CDI 2 Week 3

• Forensic Science deals with the application of scientific facts to legal problems and the judicial process
• Forensic comes from the Latin word "forensis" which means forum
• Forensic medicine, legal medicine, and medical jurisprudence are terms used interchangeably to refer to branches of medicine that apply principles and knowledge of the medical sciences in the field of law
• Forensic medicine covers both forensic pathology and clinical forensic medicine
• Forensic pathology involves investigating unnatural, unexpected, or violent deaths
• Clinical forensic medicine involves the interaction between living individuals and legal processes
• Forensic pathology is the study of disease, and a forensic pathologist investigates sudden, unexpected, and/or violent deaths
• The main role of a forensic pathologist is to undertake forensic death investigations and perform medico-legal autopsies
• Forensic physicians have various functions including determining fitness for detention, release, being charged, transfer, interviews, and more
• Forensic physicians also assess drugs and alcohol intoxication, conduct comprehensive examinations for driving ability, undertake body searches for drugs, document and interpret injuries, take forensic samples, and more
• Additional roles of forensic physicians include providing expert opinions in courts, certifying death in custody investigations, serving as part of pressure groups and independent investigators, administering medicine to refugees and asylum-seekers, and implementing immediate management principles in biological or chemical incidents
• Forensic toxicology deals with identifying and quantifying drugs, poisons, and toxic substances in body tissues and fluids
• Forensic anthropologists examine bones and skeletal remains to provide information about sex, race, age, and time of death
• Forensic anthropologists can differentiate between post-mortem changes to help identify mysterious remains and determine if death was caused by foul play