Spitz and Fisher's Medicolegal Investigation of Death: Guidelines for the Application of Pathology to Crime Investigation

Edited by professors of pathology at Wayne State U.'s School of Medicine, this is the new edition of a work first published in 1972 to give pathologists, pathology residents, coroners, guidance in the recognition and interpretation of wound patterns and mechanisms of injury in a legal context. The text aims to cover all major aspects of the subject and offers chapters on the history of forensic medicine and pathology, crime scene evidence, time of death and changes after death, identification of human remains, anthropology, forensic odontology, sudden and unexpected death from natural causes in adults, investigation of deaths in childhood. Discussion includes trauma and disease; injury by blunt and sharp forces and by gunfire and asphyxia, among other causes; investigation of bodies in water; electrical and lighting injuries; medicolegal investigation of mass disasters; trauma of the nervous system; microscopic forensic pathology; forensic aspects of radiology; and the autopsy report and selected procedures at autopsy. In order that the material be accessible to attorneys and other interested parties, technical terminology is avoided. Numerous b&w illustrations are included. Annotation (c) 2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR