Medicine, science, and the law
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Differentiation between suicide and homicide can be problematic for forensic pathologists, especially when a complex method of suicide is used by the victim. Multiple gunshot suicides have been previously reported in the forensic literature. ⋯ The autopsy showed that both gunshot wounds were nonlethal and the cause of death was attributed to drowning. Though homicide was strongly suspected at first, the manner of death was later established as suicide.
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This study aimed to establish whether post-mortem injury patterns can assist in distinguishing drivers from front seat passengers among victims of motor vehicle collisions without regard to collision type, vehicle type or if safety equipment had been used. Injuries sustained by 206 drivers and 91 front seat passengers were catalogued from post-mortem reports. Injuries were coded for the body region, depth and location of the injury. ⋯ Linear discriminant analysis generated a model for predicting seating position based on the presence of injury to certain regions of the body; the overall predictive accuracy of the model was 69.3%. It was found that driver and front passenger fatalities receive different injury patterns from motor vehicle collisions, regardless of collision type. A larger study is required to improve the predictive accuracy of this model and to ascertain its value to forensic medicine.
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This paper aims to estimate the incidence of motor vehicle accident (MVA) related deaths and identify the factors associated with the causes of the high road death toll in Transkei region. A retrospective review and analysis was performed of all medico-legal autopsies (n=6181) between January 1993 and December 1999, of which 39% (1778/4525) were deaths as a result of MVAs. During the seven-year period (January 1993-December 1999), MVA deaths in Transkei region accounted for an average of 63 deaths per 100,000 population per year. ⋯ MVA deaths have come down from 39% (248) of all trauma-related deaths in 1993 to 29% (193) in 1999. The male/female ratio is 3.3:1; and 50% of victims were between 21 and 40 years of age. In conclusion, there are high motor vehicle accident-related deaths in Transkei region of South Africa.
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Nearly two billion passengers travel each year on commercial air flights. More elderly people and/or people with a pre-existing condition are taking to the air and with the anticipated growth of air travel, in-flight illnesses and injuries are expected to increase as well. ⋯ This paper describes in-flight resources available to a physician who is called upon to treat an ill or injured passenger. Two questions concerning the French physician passenger are discussed: What are the liabilities of the physician who does not respond to the call of a medical event aboard an aircraft? What are the liabilities of the physician providing assistance to a sick passenger? The different liabilities and also the legal status of the French physician passenger are examined.
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The purpose of this paper is to present the legal aspects associated with assisted suicide in Switzerland and compare them with those in other countries. Like euthanasia, assisted suicide is a subject that induces much discussion in many countries. While the law is very liberal in some countries, such as Belgium and the Netherlands (where both euthanasia and assisted suicide take place), these practices are very controversial in other countries, such as France, where they remain taboo subjects. ⋯ In the French- and German-speaking parts of Switzerland the association Exit assists individuals living in Switzerland with serious progressive and incurable disease in their engagement to end their life. The association Dignitas, in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, also undertakes--in the same circumstances--to assist individuals coming from foreign countries. Dignitas welcomes several such individuals every year, especially from Germany, where a similar approach does not currently exist.