Forensic Pathology - an Overview - Assignment Example

Module it’s Monday and you are called to investigate the death of a 25 y/o white female found dead in her bathtub. The deceased is5 ft. 2 inches tall and weighs 75 lbs. The temperature of the room is 75. Rigor appears to have released. Livor is consistent with position of the body. There is two days of mail in her mailbox. Last contact with family was Thursday evening and all seemed to be normal. On the night stand there is a bottle of medication. At autopsy, there were no significant findings. With the information available, what is the manner and cause of death? What more information would you need and how would you get it? Considering all the given information and pondering upon it, the manner of death in this case is Suicidal. Cause of this suicidal death is over medication that may be due to several reasons. The patient many have any mental illness, depression, emotional problems, social problems, personal problems and many more. More information that I think would be required includes at first the site analysis, position of the dead body, temperature of the dead body, estimation of the time of death, toxicology examinations of the body for any remains of drugs, chemicals and poisons. Brain analysis and biochemical tests of the brain are very important for any stress, tension, anxiety or any mental illness. The name of drug found at the crime scene is very important as it would help in the confirmation of the cause of the death. Site inspection and the autopsy would help in getting the information, chemical and pathological study further confirms the diagnosis. 2. A 66 y/o white male was found unresponsive in his back yard at 4pm on a Saturday afternoon. While interviewing the family, you learn that the man had Coronary Artery disease and was treated with angioplasty and a placement of a stent in his LAD. He also had a history of Hypertension. According to his neighbor, the subject and he were working to cut down a rotten tree. The subject and the neighbor had been working for approximately two hours when the neighbor went inside to get a beer for the two of them. When the neighbor returned, the subject was on the ground, with a fallen limb along his side, there was an abrasion on his forehead and he was unresponsive. With the information given, what is the manner and cause of death? Explain your decision. The manner of death in this case is natural and the cause of death is evident from the scenario that the subject had been working strenuously and vigorously for two hours. Since the subject was hypertensive and had a recent angioplasty, the hard work would have led to stress to the heart, followed by heart attack. Subject when experiences the attack, the pain was so severe that he could not handle it. He might fall on the tree or any trauma that causes abrasion on his forehead. Struggling during the attack leads to all the abrasion and bruise found on the subject. The heart attack initiates a serious of lethal reactions in the body that collectively adds up in the cause of death. 3. Neighbors in an apartment complex complain of a foul smell coming from 3b. The police broke down the door for a wellness check and found the occupant deceased. The temperature in the room was 70. The body was bloated. There was purge. What information would you need to determine the post mortem interval? Following information would be required in order to estimate the post mortem interval: Check for post mortem changes that includes rigor mortis, livor mortis and algor mortis. Condition of the environment Forensics entomology would help in the PMI. Thanatochemistry. Check for decomposition, purification and mummification. Determination of cause and manner of death. Cooling of body temperature Post mortem lividity Content of stomach and bowel Faeces in bowel Contents of bladder Biochemical changes Circumstantial evidence 4. List the seven cell stressors that cause cellular injury. Following are the seven cell stressors causing cellular injury: 1. Oxygen Deprivation: Major function of the blood is to transport and oxygen is the most important passenger of this transportation. Any error is oxygen deprivation in the body leads to hypoxia and ischemia due to which blood supply to the cells is compromised leading t cellular injury. 2. Chemical agents: Agents known as poisons causes severe cellular death by altering the membrane permeability, osmotic homeostasis, enzymes and many other important components. Chemicals include CO, ethanol, air pollutants, insecticides and many more. 3. Infectious agents: These include microscopic and submicroscopic agents like viruses that are lethal to cells. It includes bacteria, viruses, worms, parasites etc. 4. Immunological reactions: It includes autoimmune reactions mainly that destroy body’s own cells. 5. Genetic factors: Many problems of DNA, RNA and protein formation (mismatching, abnormal synthesis, replication defects, gene deletions etc.) leads to cellular injury and then cellular death. 6. Physical agents: Trauma, radiations, electric shock, burns and sudden change in atmospheric pressure leads to increase in cellular stress that eventually leads to cell death. 7. Nutritional imbalance: Nutrition is the requirement of each and every cell and part of the body and Deficiency of many important minerals and vitamins causes cellular stress and death. Minerals are parts of many co enzymes that speed up the body reactions. Many transporters of our body are also dependent on them. 5. Describe the difference between a revolver and a pistol. The difference between a revolver and a pistol is given below: A revolver is a type of firearm that is multishot in nature while a pistol is a single shot firearm. Revolver is usually a handgun the revolving cylinder is in the hand that basically rotates to multi fire through a single barrel whereas pistols are loaded earlier and there is no need to place hand around any structure. Revolver is heavy in weight as compared to a pistol. Pistol is an emergency self-defense under 25 years while revolver is not. Both are fire arm but they have different operating systems. 6. A 1 y/o AA female was brought to the ER after being found unresponsive in her crib. The room where the child slept was cluttered with filth, dirty diapers and piles of newspapers. There are piles of newspapers and garbage throughout the apartment. The parents are both drug addicts and hoarders. At autopsy the child appeared to be well fed and appeared to have been taken care of very well. There were no findings that would clearly indicate a cause of death. In your opinion, what is the most likely manner and cause of death and why do you think so? In my opinion, the cause of death may be natural. The cause of death is due to dirty environment of the room where the baby was actually used to be. Baby’s room was very dirty, unhygienic, and full of infections, filthy material, and dusty atmosphere. The parents were also addicts and hoarders so they might not pay any attention towards the nutrition or the cleanliness of the room where the baby was placed. But there may be possible that the death of the baby was homicidal in nature because both the parents are responsible for the death of the children since they did not pay any heed towards the baby’s health and let the baby in an infectious and smoky environment that was lethal for a one year old baby. Read More