SPECIALIZED CRIME
INVESTIGATION
WITH LEGAL MEDICINE
LESSON FIVE: MEDICO-LEGAL INVESTIGATION
MEDICO-LEGAL Cases
The term “medico-legal” generally refers to something related to both medicine and law. In the field of
law enforcement, medico-legal cases refer to those that involve injuries or ailments in which investigation are
essential to determine the cause and the responsible party. This also means that medico-legal cases involve
medical cases with legal implications for the attending physician, specifically in terms of determining whether
law enforcement authorities must be notified for further investigation. On the other hand, it could also refer to
legal cases or police investigation that may require the expertise of a medical practitioner.
The ff. are examples of cases that usually have medico=legal implications, some of which shall be
discussed in further detail in other chapters.
Assault and Battery, including domestic violence and child abuse
Accidents like roads traffic accidents, industrial accidents, etc.
Cases of trauma with suspicion of foul play
Electrical injuries
Poisoning and /or alcohol intoxication
Undiagnosed coma
Chemical injuries
Burns and Scalds
Sexual Offenses
Abortion
Suicide/attempted suicide
Cases of asphyxia as result of hanging, strangulation, drowning, suffocation, etc.
Custodial deaths
Medico-legal investigations involve the discovery, preservation, documentation and analysis of evidence,
as well as the reconstruction of events leading to the injury or death under investigation.
A. DEATH INVESTIGATION
One of the most important duties of the forensic pathologist is to investigate the death of an individual by
examining all the medical, scientific, and evidentiary information. Death Investigation usually involve sudden,
unexpected or violent death, even those that may be related to natural deaths. Depending on jurisdiction, a
death jurisdiction may include an initial investigation and the examination of the body, followed by further
investigations.
The ff. are the goals and purpose of death investigations; (Adelman, 2017)
1. To help and serve living
2. To seek the truth objectively, intellectually and without bias or emotional coloration
3. To document guilt and protect the innocent
4. To determine the medical cause of death
5. To determine the manner of death
From a legal perspective, one of the most tasks of the Forensic pathologist is to establish the cause
and manner of death. Based on the objectives enumerated above, the forensic pathologist must also estimate
the time of death, infer the type of weapon used, determine additive effect of trauma or pre-existing conditions,
as well as establish the identity of deceased. By understanding the role of the pathologist and the natural
changes that occur in the body after death, the criminal investigator can gather information that is deemed
useful to everyone involved in the investigation.
Death Investigators initially determine which locality has jurisdiction over a reported cases, after which
they will obtained identification information about the deceased, such as:
Name Address
Birthdate Legal next-to-kin
Gender
The Criminal Investigators will also gather other significant information such as
Time of death When and where the person was
Where the person died last known to be alive
Whether or not there are injuries Medical history
The position and conditions of the Employment status
body Recent activities
Evidence of post-mortem changes Relationships issues
Environmental information Recent state of mi
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B. Definition of DEATH
Death is the cessation of life. In the medical and legal sense, human death has been traditionally
defined as “the complete and irreversible cessation of heart and lung activity”. However, controversies arise
when religious and ethical concerns come into play. For example, a person who has been dead for several
hours can still have functional sperms that can fertilize an egg. A dead person’s cells can also be cultured in
a laboratory to be kept “alive” for decades. To clarify this distinctions, the medical profession considers
separately:
(1) the death of the single cell which is known as cellular death, and
(2) the cessation of the integrated functioning of an individual, known as somatic death
Somatic Death, therefore, refers to the death of the person, while Cellular Death refers to the death of
the cells within the persons. (Adelman, 2007)
B.1. CELLULAR DEATH is defined as “the cessation of respiration (the utilization of oxygen) and the normal
metabolic activity in the body tissues and cells,” and is “soon followed by autolysis and decay, which if it affects
the whole body, is indisputable evidence of true death” (Shepherd, 2003).
B.2. SOMATIC DEATH occurs when “the individual is irreversibly unconscious and unaware of both the world
and his own existence” (Shepherd, 2007). Unlike during the sleep or under anesthesia or temporary coma,
unconsciousness in somatic death is “irreversible”.
B.3. the following are the Three Modes of Death;
1. COMA
Death results primarily from the failures of the vital centers of the brain; the person becomes
unconscious and loses all reflexes, after which the heart and lungs.
2. SYNCOPE
Death occurs primarily as a results of heart failure, possibly due to blood loss, power loss of
the heart muscle, or neurogenic shock.
3. ASPHYXIA
Death occurs primarily when the respiratory function of lungs stops as a result of lack oxygen,
resulting in failure of the heart and brain.
TAKE NOTE: If a person dies within 24 hours without suffering from a recognizable cause, such death would
be called a SUDDEN DEATH.
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ASSIGNMENT THREE:
Instructions: Write your answer in your notebook or type it a word doc. file and submit a PDF or an image file
copy of your output. (DO NOT GOOGLE SEARCH YOUR ANSWER)
1. In the field of Law Enforcement, what do we mean by MEDICO-LEGAL?
2. Define Death
3. What is the different between SOMATIC DEATH and CELLULAR DEATH?
4. Enumerate the Three Modes of Death? Differentiate each from one another.
