Forensics Flashcards
What are Liver Mortis, Rigor Mortis, and Algor Mortis?
L: heart stops, blood collects
R: body stiffens (peak 24 hrs)
A: body begins to cool
What is the time of death for bodies that are:
- warm and not stiff
- warm and stiff
- cold and stiff
- cold and not stiff
- less that 3 hrs
- 3-8 hours
- 8-36 hours
- more than 36 hours
What are the 5 manners of death? (NASHU)
- judicial opinion based on everything known and can change as more information is gathered
N - natural (any licensed physician can rule) A - accident S - suicide H - homicide U - undetermined
medical examiner is the only one that can rule on UN-natural manners of death
What should the last line of a death certificate state?
what the cause of death is
Why do a forensic autopsy when the cause of death appears to be natural?
to rule out and understand what actually happened
cannot REFUTE claims if the proper study was not done
What role does the family play in forensic investigations and who is the medical examiner duty towards?
family plays very little, since most homicides are usually caused by a loved one or someone the victims knows
- the medical examiners duty is to the PUBLIC only
What are 3 types of blunt force trauma?
- abrasions - scrapes of the epidermis
- crush or friction scraping, ooze serum or blood
- scab formation
- lacerations - blunt injury that splits the skin
- irregular tearing with soft tissue bridges
- contusions - bruising
- hemorrhage into soft tissue (subQ BV rupture)
- skin intact, wound does NOT bleed externally
What color is most significant when looking at contusions?
YELLOW
- yellow bruises indicate that the bruise is 18 hours or more old
What are 3 major types of abrasions? (BIP)
Brush - grazing/sliding motion
- “rolls/heaps” of tissue at wound margin
- occur in OPPOSITE direction of force
Impact
Patterned - abrasion looks like surface appearance of an object
What Sv dosage and symptoms are associated with Small Bowl and Brain radiation exposure?
SB: 10-20 Sv
- diarrhea, fever, electrolyte imbalance, vomiting
Brain: >50 Sv
- ataxia, coma, convulsions, vomiting
based on his chart, anything over 10 Sv is 100% LETHAL
What is an Incise wound?
a puncture wound made by a sharp object that is deeper than it is long
What age demographics are homicide-related deaths the highest in?
Age 15-34 (mainly males)
What is the difference in appearance of a wound created by a single-edge blade vs a double-edge blade?
Single: triangle incision appearance
Double: rounded diamond appearance
- common of military knives and bayonets
What is the difference in Outer and Inner tables of the skull when looking at an entry GSW vs an exit GSW?
Entry:
- outer table: sharply circumscribed
- inner table: beveled
Exit:
- outer table: beveled
- inner table: sharply circumscribed
What is the relationship of period of energy transfer and area of application of force to the wounding potential of a injury?
both are inversely proportional to wounding
energy being transferred over shorter periods of time and to a smaller area with cause MORE wounding
KATE –> parts of the Wounding Formula
E = (0.5)MV^2 (velocity more important than mass)
