Erschienen in:
01.12.2011 | Editorial
Animals, autopsies and artefacts
verfasst von:
Roger W. Byard
Erschienen in:
Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology
|
Ausgabe 4/2011
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Excerpt
In the last issue of
Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology Buschmann et al. [
1] described decapitation associated with postmortem dog attacks. While drawing attention to a specific form of craniocerebral trauma, the paper also raises the issue of difficulties that may arise in assessing the significance of injuries inflicted by animals, as not infrequently autopsies are conducted on bodies with features that have been modified by animal activity. While the sequence of events leading up to, and following, the fatal episode is usually not difficult to establish, on occasion the precise role played by the injuries may be difficult to determine. Ascertaining whether injuries from animal attacks occurred before or after death, contributed to the death, were incidental to the death, or merely modified underlying diseases or other injuries are issues that may need to be addressed [
2]. …
