Forensics Flashcards
What are the two choices for manner of death?
(a) Who can sign the death certificate?
Natural or violent
(a) If natural- any physician can sign the death certificate. If violent, only the medical examiner or coroner can sign
What is considered a homicide by a medical examiner?
A death at the hands of another, irregardless of intent (so not like you necessarily meant to kill the person)
-still a homicide if a cop shoots a murder etc
Man gets shot in the neck, dies a few days later b/c he can’t eat
(stupid example but just do it)
What is the
(a) manner of death
(b) proximate cause of death
(c) immediate cause of death
(d) Mechanism of death
Man gets shot in the neck, dies a few days later b/c he can’t eat
(a) Manner of death = violent, homicide
(b) Proximate cause of death = GSW to the neck
(c) Immediate cause of death = inability to eat
(d) Mechanism of death = starvation
How are natural deaths classified?
Classified 1-5 w/ decreasing certainty
So 1 = totally certain that’s the cause
2= most common, disease w/ lethal potential and consistent history and circumstance
5= no effing idea
Differentiate a cut and a stab
Cut = longer on the skin than it is deep
Stab = deeper than it is wide on the skin
Are most pedestrians run over or run under?
Run under- impact occurs below their center of gravity => often knocked upwards (ex: onto the hood of the car)
When do you see fowling?
(a) How to distinguish from stippling
Fowling = residue from a GSW that was just a few inches (
When do you see stippling?
Stippling = abrasion of the skin due to unburned gun powder after a GSW
-seen w/ intermediate range of fire (6-30 inches)
-stippling can’t be wiped away
What would be more regular- entry or exit bullet wound?
Duh the entry- it’s going straight when it hits you
-exit wound super irregular (coursed thru tons of tissue and shit)
Why is it often hard to track new street drugs w/ panels?
B/c these drugs are modified so quickly that they easily evade previously testable measures
-especially synthetic drugs, tests have to be updated very recently to keep up
Is K2 legal?
Yup, it’s chemically modified
Why do you bring blood into the syringe?
To make sure no drug gets left into the syringe (ew…)
Maltese cross on histology is indicative of what type of injection
When drugs are injected w/ binders and fillers (to increase weight)
Describe the mechanism of a vein becoming ‘unusable’ to an IVDU
First a vein gets infected (called phlebitis) which cause clotting (thrombosis) which eventually becomes fibrotic
-fibrotic = no longer has blood going thru it => vein no longer usable for an intravenous drug user
Differentiate skin popping and mainlining
Skin popping = inject into skin and subcutaneous tissue
-last resort sometimes done when no more viable veins (b/c all are fibrotic)
Mainlining = directly injecting into a vein
-obviously the more effective way
