Forensic Medicine

Dr J. Duflou (NSW Department of Forensic Medicine, Glebe)

9:00 - 12:00 Five Part Seminar

1. Air crash investigation – like all other medicos, forensic pathologists are in the life saving business.

2. DNA profiling – the great leap forward in forensic science.

3. The ethical dilemma of organ retention for research and teaching

4. "There was blood and gore everywhere!!!!" – Blood spatter analysis in the reconstruction of crime scenes.

5. The agony and the ecstasy – is an ecky really safer than that cup of coffee?

Assignment Topics:

Create a poster or Website based on one of the following themes:

• Adversarial forensic science in the court room is a two-edged sword – bias and failure on the one hand, truth and justice on the other. Is there a better way?

OR

• Parentage testing and diagnosis of rare diseases today, compulsory DNA fingerprinting at birth and eugenics tomorrow. Can the genie be pushed back into the bottle, or is this just scaremongering.

OR

• "They’ve suffered enough already, do you really have to do a post mortem as well?" Should we be doing autopsies in vehicular trauma deaths when we invariably know what caused the crash?

References:

Web-based Resources

Following are a number of web sites which course participants may find useful:

http://www.soft-tox.org – The home page of the Society of Forensic Toxicologists (SOFT). It’s a bit tame and not that hot on detail, but has some interesting links, especially the section marked "Illicit".

http://www.fbi.gov – It just had to be included. Very American and upright, but then what do you expect from the FBI.

http://www.fss.org.uk – The British equivalent of the FBI labs – the Forensic Science Service. Some interesting information on DNA databases and their value in criminal work.

http://www.jfklancer.com/BloodEvidence.html – One of the few pages on blood spatter analysis, in this case referring to the assassination of US president John F. Kennedy.

http://www.faa.gov – the US Federal Aviation Authority.

http://www.cami.jccbi.gov – The Office of Aviation Medicine at the FAA. If you still want to fly after reading some of the medical horror stories on this page, you’re either very brave or...

http://www.casa.gov.au - The Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority. Some interesting data on air crash rates in Australia. The moral of the story – never step in an aircraft unless it’s big enough to have a drinks trolley.

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~dxw/avmed.html – The home page of one of the true eccentrics in aviation medicine, right here in Australia – Dougal Watson. The information he provides is excellent and sensible.

Text-based Resources:

Wilkins R. The fireside book of death. 1990. Warner Books, London.

Everything you ever wanted to know about dying but were afraid to ask. Written by a psychiatrist, of all people.

Wecht C. Grave secrets. 1998. Penguin Books, New York.

Cyril Wecht used to be a well-regarded American forensic pathologist, who then started writing popular non-fiction "how-I-did-it" crime trash. This is one of those books. Nevertheless, it does OJ Simpson fairly well.

Wilson C. Written in blood: A history of forensic detection. 1990. Grafton Books, London.

Rather melodramatic title, but packed full of readable information.

Brown M, Wilson P. Justice and nightmares: Successes and failure of forensic science. 1992. NSW University Press, Sydney. S363.250994/2  Level 4 UNSW Library

A good collection of local cases, including a summary of the McLeod-Lindsay blood spatter case.

Williams D, Ansford A, Priday D, Forrest AS. Forensic pathology - A colour guide. 1996. Churchill Livingstone Press, Edinburgh. MB614.1/49 Biomedical library, UNSW

A lot of blood and gore in a very small book. A good, cheap book for the forensic pathology voyeur.

Job M. Air crash. The story of how Australia’s airways were made safe. Volumes 1 and 2. 1991. Aerospace Publications, Canberra.

The perfect books to read while flying. Make sure fellow passengers see what you’re reading!

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Last modified: 16/07/2002