We’ve previously addressed the basics of gunshot wounds (see https://labmedicineblog.com/2023/09/22/the-ins-and-outs-of-gunshot-wounds/) but forensic pathologists need to be familiar with injuries inflicted by a variety of firearms. If you grew up in a rural area (like me) you are probably familiar with shotguns as a typical hunting tool. However, shotguns also have several unique characteristics which are crucial ..read more

Let’s imagine you are a forensic pathologist, called by investigators to the basement of an abandoned house where a building inspector found human remains. Upon your arrival, you identify a human skeleton, still partially encased in trash bags. The plastic trash bags have melted over the exposed surfaces, and there are charred cans of lighter ..read more

In most areas of the United States, the sudden and unexpected death of a previously healthy person falls under the jurisdiction of a forensic pathologist. Forensic pathologists are therefore often in a position to diagnose a multitude of potentially heritable diseases including cardiomyopathies, channelopathies, and aortopathies. Importantly, these conditions can remain clinically undetected until lethal ..read more

I like to think most people who go into healthcare professions do so with the hope of helping others. For those of us who do autopsies, the greatest sense of reward comes when we can explain to someone how and why their loved one died. Inevitably, though, there will be situations where we need to ..read more

In television and movies, you’ll sometimes see a scene where the pathologist describes to a detective the specific dimensions of a knife used in an attack, all based on the autopsy findings. While this is no doubt extremely helpful to an investigation (and the limits of a 60-minute run time) it’s also impossible to provide ..read more

In several previous blogs, I’ve mentioned the topic of post-mortem radiography (or “x-rays”). While postmortem CT scanning is a hot topic in the field, plain films are a tool which has been in widespread use for decades. Autopsy standards of the National Association of Medical Examiners require, at a minimum, radiographs be performed on all ..read more

In the United States, victims of gunshot wounds represent a significant majority of all homicides (and a high proportion of suicides). There’s a propensity among other medical specialties to think of forensic pathologists as “bullet pullers,” just collecting the used projectiles and moving on to the next case. However, autopsies of multiple gunshot wound victims ..read more

When I perform an autopsy, I know that anything I find will be discovered too late to save my patient’s life. I generally hope the autopsy report helps explain why and how someone died to family members, law enforcement, lawyers, and potential jurors.  It’s less common that an autopsy finding can have immediate impact on ..read more

With warmer weather approaching (or already arrived, depending on your location), it’s a good opportunity to review investigation of drowning deaths in forensic pathology. Drowning is the leading cause of deaths for children between the ages of 1 and 4 in the United States, but it can affect any age group. Drowning is a diagnosis ..read more

I was recently reviewing new toxicology reports from my pending autopsies, and came across a report with the following results:  Looking at this in isolation, it would be easy to assume this person died from an overdose. Even low levels of fentanyl can be dangerous to an opioid-naive individual – a level this high is ..read more