I was sad to see the conference come to a close. It was the best Colby meeting I've been to ever.
The last day I gave a talk about sudden death in epilepsy and Cliff Nelson gave a very interesting talk on the issues surrounding religious objections to health care and the medical examiner (think Christian Scientist).
The day ended with Greg (Kentucky) Davis giving an overview of toxicology related deaths.
I learned quite a bit this week and enjoyed meeting some wonderful new people.
Next year Colby is Aug 5 to 9, so book your vacations now!
Now back to the real world. With summer beginning to come to a close I suspect that my blog posts will become more frequent!
Friday, August 12, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Colby day 3 and 4
Not much to say about day 3. I had to leave after my talk on child abuse. I think it went well. It's such a difficult area now, all bets are off.
Today was great. It started off with Richard Callery going over psych/suicide cases. That was followed by two amazing talks by Dr. Bill Smock. His talk on car accidents and determining the driver was fantastic, I will use a lot of that.
Dr. Tom Gilson did a review of homicide and opened up some debate over the use of 'homicide by unspecified means'. He also a gave a cool review of recent serial killers.
At lunch we had a brief faculty meeting and discussed topics for next year. It's already shaping up to be a good meeting. Come if you can.
Tomorrow is the final day. I have a talk on epilepsy related deaths in the a.m..
So far, this is one of the best Colby meetings I have been to. It has been fun being a faculty member after sitting in the audience for some many years. I feel like a grown up!
Today was great. It started off with Richard Callery going over psych/suicide cases. That was followed by two amazing talks by Dr. Bill Smock. His talk on car accidents and determining the driver was fantastic, I will use a lot of that.
Dr. Tom Gilson did a review of homicide and opened up some debate over the use of 'homicide by unspecified means'. He also a gave a cool review of recent serial killers.
At lunch we had a brief faculty meeting and discussed topics for next year. It's already shaping up to be a good meeting. Come if you can.
Tomorrow is the final day. I have a talk on epilepsy related deaths in the a.m..
So far, this is one of the best Colby meetings I have been to. It has been fun being a faculty member after sitting in the audience for some many years. I feel like a grown up!
Monday, August 8, 2011
Colby Day2
The highlight of the course: Dr. Richard Callery's exercises. Always worth the trip to Waterville to see Dr. Callery talk. Always informative, interesting, and hysterical. The man should do stand-up. All fun aside, there were a number of useful cases that stimulated debate. So far the theme for the weeks seems to be 'what's the manner'. I also learned quite a bit more than I needed to about cement and quicksand porn. Yes, it really exists. Google it if you're not at work.
Dr. Greenwald gave a nice talk on in-custody deaths. These are always difficult. The best part of her talk were the huge list of great references. I will use those for sure.
My talk on abusive head trauma is tomorrow. One hour. Seems like I could take 10 hours. We'll see if I can squeeze it all in. 122 slides though, it's going to be tough. But I talk fast....
Still, I had time this evening for a great canoe trip with the fam to the little island in the middle of the lake were we are staying. We encountered many pirates we had to fight off, hope they didn't follow us home...
Dr. Greenwald gave a nice talk on in-custody deaths. These are always difficult. The best part of her talk were the huge list of great references. I will use those for sure.
My talk on abusive head trauma is tomorrow. One hour. Seems like I could take 10 hours. We'll see if I can squeeze it all in. 122 slides though, it's going to be tough. But I talk fast....
Still, I had time this evening for a great canoe trip with the fam to the little island in the middle of the lake were we are staying. We encountered many pirates we had to fight off, hope they didn't follow us home...
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Colby Day One
I can't say enough nice things about this meeting. If you've never been, you need to come.
The first talk was by Dr. Bill Smock from KY. He's an ER doctor who did a forensic path fellowship. He had the most amazing collection of pattern injury photos I have ever seen. If you can name an object someone has used to hit another person with, he had a photo of it. Dr. Smock also gave some great advice on how to opine about the origin of the wounds to juries. Wonderful talk. It reminded me of a couple of weeks ago when my son nailed me with a lightsaber and I had a perfect tram-line contusion on my leg.
Dr. Greg Davis (also from KY) gave a good talk on manner of death. Nothing really new, just good food for thought. Manner seems to be the thing we argue about the most. What would you call a 20-year-old-woman with no psych history, good student, star athlete, who does acid, tells her friends she can fly and then jumps out the window? Accident? Suicide?
The last talk was by Dr. Thomas Gilson now of Cleveland. He discussed drafting a clear and understandable autopsy report.
I ended the day with dinner in the caf with the family. There were no sprinkles for the ice cream so we had to use fruit loops. Oh yeah.
Tomorrow Dr. Peggy Greenwald (the Chief of the State of Maine is giving a talk on in custody deaths. That's going to be good!
The first talk was by Dr. Bill Smock from KY. He's an ER doctor who did a forensic path fellowship. He had the most amazing collection of pattern injury photos I have ever seen. If you can name an object someone has used to hit another person with, he had a photo of it. Dr. Smock also gave some great advice on how to opine about the origin of the wounds to juries. Wonderful talk. It reminded me of a couple of weeks ago when my son nailed me with a lightsaber and I had a perfect tram-line contusion on my leg.
Dr. Greg Davis (also from KY) gave a good talk on manner of death. Nothing really new, just good food for thought. Manner seems to be the thing we argue about the most. What would you call a 20-year-old-woman with no psych history, good student, star athlete, who does acid, tells her friends she can fly and then jumps out the window? Accident? Suicide?
The last talk was by Dr. Thomas Gilson now of Cleveland. He discussed drafting a clear and understandable autopsy report.
I ended the day with dinner in the caf with the family. There were no sprinkles for the ice cream so we had to use fruit loops. Oh yeah.
Tomorrow Dr. Peggy Greenwald (the Chief of the State of Maine is giving a talk on in custody deaths. That's going to be good!
Colby College forensics
I'm at the 38th annual New England Seminar in Forensic Science. This is my favorite meeting of the year. I'm going to try and post cool stuff from each day. Keep checking in. It's about time I got back to blogging after most of the summer off!
First up this afternoon is Dr. Smock's talk on pattern injuries in victims of interpersonal violence. I'm looking forward to that!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
First up this afternoon is Dr. Smock's talk on pattern injuries in victims of interpersonal violence. I'm looking forward to that!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Monday, May 2, 2011
The ID of Bin Laden
The forensic issues surrounding this case are numerous. Most important is identification. How do we know this is in fact Osama Bin Laden?
I doubt there will be an accurate visual ID, especially if he was struck in the head with a high velocity round from an automatic rifle. Also, one has to wonder if he may have altered his appearance in some way while living in such a populated area. Visual ID is presumptive and in a case like this, I doubt anyone would release news of this magnitude on a presumptive ID.
Presumptive ID's identify someone was a subset it does not as a unique individual. Presumptive ID's include scars, drivers licenses, passports and tattoos. Islam does not allow tattoos, so if Bin Laden has any scars, it may be helpful. But again, this is not a positive ID
A positive ID relies on unique characteristics attributed only to that individual. DNA, X-ray, dental and fingerprints result in a positive ID.
DNA has become a useful tool in forensic ID, but it takes time. If the raid occurred yesterday at 3:30 pm EST, and the news broke around 5 hours later, I doubt there was enough time to run a sample from the body. DNA will most likely be used to confirm whatever means was used for the ID.
Fingerprints are another excellent means if positive ID as everyone's fingerprints are unique, even among identical twins. The major problem with fingerprints is obtaining antemortem samples. Less than 20% of the US population has fingerprints on file. However, I bet the CIA has Bin Laden's fingerprints on file.
X-ray is also a possibility. I don't know if Bin Laden has any antemortem records on file, but if he does, X-ray can be quick and easy.
My money is on dental. From photographs, it looks like he has well kept dentition, and I would wager he has a dental record sitting on the desk of some CIA agent!
It is often best to use more than one method. Maybe the military used fingerprints and dental and will 100% confirm it with DNA.
Regardless of the methodology, they must have been pretty damn sure it was him before they buried his body at sea (at least I hope they were!).
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
I doubt there will be an accurate visual ID, especially if he was struck in the head with a high velocity round from an automatic rifle. Also, one has to wonder if he may have altered his appearance in some way while living in such a populated area. Visual ID is presumptive and in a case like this, I doubt anyone would release news of this magnitude on a presumptive ID.
Presumptive ID's identify someone was a subset it does not as a unique individual. Presumptive ID's include scars, drivers licenses, passports and tattoos. Islam does not allow tattoos, so if Bin Laden has any scars, it may be helpful. But again, this is not a positive ID
A positive ID relies on unique characteristics attributed only to that individual. DNA, X-ray, dental and fingerprints result in a positive ID.
DNA has become a useful tool in forensic ID, but it takes time. If the raid occurred yesterday at 3:30 pm EST, and the news broke around 5 hours later, I doubt there was enough time to run a sample from the body. DNA will most likely be used to confirm whatever means was used for the ID.
Fingerprints are another excellent means if positive ID as everyone's fingerprints are unique, even among identical twins. The major problem with fingerprints is obtaining antemortem samples. Less than 20% of the US population has fingerprints on file. However, I bet the CIA has Bin Laden's fingerprints on file.
X-ray is also a possibility. I don't know if Bin Laden has any antemortem records on file, but if he does, X-ray can be quick and easy.
My money is on dental. From photographs, it looks like he has well kept dentition, and I would wager he has a dental record sitting on the desk of some CIA agent!
It is often best to use more than one method. Maybe the military used fingerprints and dental and will 100% confirm it with DNA.
Regardless of the methodology, they must have been pretty damn sure it was him before they buried his body at sea (at least I hope they were!).
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Friday, April 22, 2011
What's the diagnosis April 22, 2011
Let's do something a bit different and give you all a break from the histo. What am I going to so with these vitreous electrolytes??
Na 130 mmol/L
Cl 110 mmol/L
VUN 30
Cr 2.0 mg/dl
Glucose 580 mg/dl
Ketones negative
Na 130 mmol/L
Cl 110 mmol/L
VUN 30
Cr 2.0 mg/dl
Glucose 580 mg/dl
Ketones negative
Thursday, February 3, 2011
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