Forensic Medicine

Question 1

a medical doctor who studies and diagnoses disease in humans

Answer 1

Pathologist

Question 2

a pathologist who has studied not only disease but trauma (wounds and damage) that leads to the death of an individual

Answer 2

Forensic Pathologist

Question 3

involves the standardized dissection (cutting up) of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death

Answer 3

Autopsy

Question 4

refers to an external examination of a dead body without incision being made

Answer 4

Postmortem Examination

Question 5

the disease or injury, or combination of disease and injury responsible for the fatality; it is the physician’s best opinion, with or without an autopsy

Answer 5

Cause of Death

Question 6

the alterations of physiology and biochemistry whereby the causes exert their lethal effects; refers to the physician’s story of what occurred

Answer 6

Mechanisms of Death

Question 7

refers to the circumstances that led to death; it is an explanation of how the cause of death came about, either natural or violent; reflect an opinion based on available information such as activities just before death, recent symptoms, previous medical records, scene investigation and other pertinent information

Answer 7

Manner of Death

Question 8

a physician and a member of the SOCO who is trained to examine dead bodies to ascertain the cause, manner and mechanism of death

Answer 8

Medico-Legal Officer (MELO)

Question 9

the stiffening of the body after death due to the membranes of muscle cells becoming more permeable to calcium ions which makes the muscles contract; the muscles release only when the tissues begin to decompose

Answer 9

Rigor Mortis

Question 10

known as post-mortem lividity, the setting of blood due to gravity after the heart no longer circulates through the body; result to the purple discoloration

Answer 10

Livor Mortis

Question 11

the cooling of the body after death; a complex process which does not occur at the same rate throughout the body

Answer 11

Algor Mortis

Question 12

the study of human tissues, from complex composition to their many purposes in the body; very useful in the case of a sudden death where trauma and poisoning need to ruled out

Answer 12

Histopathology

Question 13

The aims of death investigation are to answer the following questions:

Answer 13

1. Who died? (identification of the deceased)
2. Where? (place of death)
3. When? (time of death)
4. Why? (cause of death)
5. How? (manner and mechanism of death)

Question 14

Objectives of Autopsy

Answer 14

1. Determine the cause, manner, mode, and time of death;
2. Find out whether there is any contributing factor to the causation of death;
3. Recover, identify, and preserve evidentiary material;
4. Provide interpretation and correlation of facts and reconstruct the circumstances surrounding the death;
5. Provide a factual, objective medical report for prosecution and defense;
6. Separate natural death from unnatural death for protection of the innocent in suspicious deaths.

Question 15

what do medico-legal officers issue?

Answer 15

Certificate of Cause of Death