Quiz Flashcards
Stages of Medico-Legal Investigation
- Crime Scene Investigation
- Autopsy
conduct of processes, more particularly, the
recognition, handling, preservation and documentation of
physical evidence to include the identification and interview of
witnesses and the arrest of suspect/s at the crime scene
Crime scene investigation
place where the essential
ingredients of the criminal act took place
Crime scene
The area is blocked out in the form of a
rectangle. The searcher proceeds slowly at the same pace
along the path parallel to one side of the rectangle
Strip method
This search is a
modification of the strip search method. The searchers will
traverse first parallel to the base and then parallel to the
side.
Double Strip or Grid Method
The searchers follow each other in the path
in the spiral manner beginning from the center towards the
outside or vice versa.
Spiral method
The searchers gather at the center
and proceed outwards along radii or spokes.
Wheel/ray method
Whole area is divided into subdivisions or
quadrants and search is made in the individual quadrants.
Zone method
comprehensive study of a dead body,
performed by a trained physician employing recognized
dissection procedure and techniques
Autopsy
Kinds of Autopsy
a. Hospital or Non-official Autopsy
b. Medico-legal or Official Autopsy
When shall an Autopsy be Performed on a Dead Body
a. Whenever required by special laws;
b. Upon order of a competent court, a mayor and a provincial or
city fiscal;
c. Upon written request of police authorities;
Persons who are Authorized to Perform Autopsies and Dissections
The following are authorized to perform autopsies and dissections
a. Health Officers
b. Medical officers of law enforcement agencies; and
c. Members of the medical staff of accredited hospitals.
after all efforts,
including gross and microscopic studies and toxicological
analyses, fail to reveal a cause of death
Negative autopsy
no cause of death is found on
account of imprudence, negligence, lack of skill or lack of
foresight of the examiner
Negligence autopsy
Animal
bites, injection marks, electrical necrosis may be overlooked in a
hasty external examination.
Failure to make a thorough external examination
Condition
of the organs, presence of air in pneumothorax or bubbles of air
in the circulatory system may remain unnoticed by the
pathologist.
Inadequate or improper internal examinations
Tissue blocks may not be
taken in the proper areas, poor preparation of the microscopic
slides and improper lighting during the process of examination
may lead to an erroneous interpretati
. Improper histological examination
qualitative
and quantitative determination of toxic materials or its
metabolites must be shown
. Lack of toxicological or other laboratory aids
The examiner must have had
vast experience in autopsy investigation and must have the
capacity to distinguish pathological changes in the body tissues
Pathologist incompetence
injury, disease or the
combination of both injury and disease responsible for initiating
the trend or physiological disturbance, brief or prolonged, which
produce the fatal termination. It may be immediate or proximate
Cause of death
explanation as to how the cause of
death came intobeing or how the cause of death arose
Manner of death
This applies to cases when trauma or disease kill quickly
that there is no opportunity for sequelae or complications to
develop.
Immediate (Primary) Cause of Death
An extensive brain laceration as a result of a vehicular
accident is an example of immediate cause of death.
Immediate (Primary) Cause of Death
The injury or disease was survived for a sufficiently
prolonged interval which permitted the development of serious
sequelae which actually caused the death. If a stab wound in the
abdomen later caused generalized peritonitis, then peritonitis is
the proximate cause of death.
The Proximate (Secondary) Cause of Death
This is death caused by a natural disease condition in the body. The disease may develop spontaneously, or it might have
been a consequence of physical injury inflicted prior to its
development. If a natural disease developed without the
intervention of the felonious acts of another person, no one can
be held responsible for the death
Natural death
Violent deaths are those due to injuries inflicted in the
body by some forms of outside force. The physical injury must be
the proximate cause of death.
Violent death
(1) That the victim at the time the physical injuries were inflicted
was in normal health.
(2) That the death may be expected from
physical injuries inflicted.
(3) That death ensued within a reasonable time
Violent death elements
Death due to misadventure or accident. An accident is
something that happens outside the sway of our will, and
although it comes about through some act of will, lies beyond
bounds of human foreseeable consequences.
Accidental death
exempted from criminal liability
(a) A person is performing a lawful act
(b) He performed it with due care
(c) He caused injury to another by mere accident
(d) He is without fault and with no intention of causing it
Death due to reckless imprudence, negligence, lack of skill or
lack of foresight
Negligent death
death occurred due
to the recklessness of someone, he may be charge of?
Homicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one’s own death.
Suicidal death
any person who shall assist another to commit suicide
shall suffer the penalty of?
Prision mayor
such person lends his
assistance to another to the extent of doing the killing himself, he
shall suffer the penalty of?
Reclusion temporal
practice of painlessly putting to
death a person suffering from some incurable disease
Euthanasia or mercy killing
Any person who shall kill his father, mother, or child,
whether legitimate or illegitimate, or any of his ascendants or
descendants, or his spouse, shall be of?
Parricidal death
Infanticide is the killing of a child less than 3 days old
Infanticidal Death
If the offender is the father, mother or legitimate
ascendant, the crime is?
Infanticide
Victim that is not yet viable
Abortion
Victim that is viable
Infanticide
Any person who, not falling within the provisions of
Article 246 shall kill another, shall be guilty of murder and shall
be punished by reclusion temporal in its maximum period to
death, if committed with any of the following attendant
Murder
Scoffing or outraging includes
(i) dismembering the corpse by cutting off the head
(ii) urinating on it
(iii) putting it on a sack and throwing the sack in a garbage
pit
(iv) stripping if off the clothes
Any person who, not falling within the provisions of
article 246 shall kill another without the attendance of any of the
circumstances enumerated in the provision of Art. 248 or
Revised Penal Code (Murder), shall be deemed guilty of homicide
and be punished by reclusion temporal
Homicidal death/homicide
Elements of homicide
a) That a person was killed
(b) That the accused killed him without any justifying
circumstances.
(c) There is the intention on the part of the offender to kill the
victim and such presumption can be inferred from the death of
the victim
(d) That the killing does not fall under the definition of the crime of
murder, parricide or infanticide.
Tumultuous affray exists hen at least?
4 persons
Any legally married person who, having surprised his
spouse in the act of committing sexual intercourse with another
person, shall kill any of them or both of them in the act or
immediately thereafter, or shall inflict upon them any serious
physical injury, shall suffer the penalty of destierro.
Death or physical injury inflicted under excemptional circumstances
If death or serious physical injuries resulted, the accused
will be imposed the penalty of?
Destierro
Modern methods in the execution of death sentences have
abandoned inhuman, cruel and barbarous means. Executions by
garroting, decapitation by means ofthe guillotine and by drowning
which were common during the medieval days are no longer
practiced. The statutes of all countries state the legal procedure
for the execution of death penalties. The constitution, like that of
the Philippines, imposes certain limitations to the law-making
Judicial death
A person is made to sit on a chair made of electrical
conducting materials with straps of electrodes on both wrists,
ankles, and head. An alternating current voltage of more than
1,500 volts is put on until the convict dies
Death by electrocution
The convict is made to stand in an elevated collapsible
flatform with a black hood on the head, a noose made of rope
around the neck and the other end of which is fixed in an elevated
structure above the head. Without the knowledge of the convict,
the flatform suddenly collapses which causes the sudden
suspension of the body and tightening of the noose around the
neck. Death may be due to asphyxia or injury of the cervical
portion of the spinal cord.
Death by hanging
Execution by firing squad by the used of fire arm. Capital punishment common in military in world war.
Death by musketry
The convict is enclosed in a compartment and an
obnoxious or asphyxiating gas is introduced. The most common
gas used is carbon monoxide. The convict will not be removed
from the gas chamber unless he is pronounced dead by the
penitentiary physician.
Death by gas chamber
above-mentioned Judicial Deaths are no longer
applicable in the Philippines since the imposition of Death penalty
was already abolished by Republic Act No?
9346
Intentional or deliberate application of
the means to shorten the life of a person. It may be done with or
without the consent or knowledge of the person. Active
euthanasia on demand is the putting to death of a person in
compliance with the wishes of the person (patient) to shorten his
sufferings
Active Euthanasia
There is absence of the application of
the means to accelerate death but the natural course of the
disease is allowed to have its way to extinguish the life of a
person. Consequently, the concept of orthothanasia and
dysthanasia was adopted.
Passive euthanasia
When an incurably ill person is allowed to
die a natural death without the application of any operation or
treatment procedure.
Orthothanasia