Death due to thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura in pregnancy: case report with review of thrombotic microangiopathies of pregnancy.

Maternal death during pregnancy, although uncommon, may result from a broad range of conditions. In this paper, a case of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura diagnosed by postmortem examination is presented. Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura is one of a subset of diseases that result in the formation of microthrombi within the vasculature, either as a primary or secondary manifestation. Other conditions included in the differential diagnosis during pregnancy are hemolytic uremic syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus, preeclampsia-eclampsia and the HELLP syndrome, acute fatty liver of pregnancy, antiphospholipid antibody syndrome, and disseminated intravascular coagulation. The histologic manifestations of these diseases can be similar and in most cases do not provide adequate information to accurately differentiate these diseases in the postmortem period. This paper addresses the need for clinical history (i.e., symptomatology, trimester of onset) and antemortem laboratory testing in addition to a thorough autopsy to accurately differentiate among the conditions named previously. In the absence of an adequate clinical history and antemortem laboratory testing, the more general diagnosis of "thrombotic microangiopathy of pregnancy" is acceptable.     

Sudden death due to thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura

This case studies the clinical, laboratory, and pathologic findings observed in thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). Although TTP is a well-recognized syndrome, it is frequently undetected antemortem and represents a rare cause of sudden death. We recently were involved in a case of TTP in which an 18-year-old woman with no previous history died suddenly. The case was referred to our office for consultation because of a recent history of methamphetamine abuse. We report herewith our approach to the diagnostic workup of TTP and review relevant literature.     

Rapid death from thrombotic thrombocytopaenic purpura following caesarean section.

We report a case of rapid death from thrombotic thrombocytopaenic purpura (TTP) in a young pregnant lady who developed full blown symptoms soon after caesarean section. Extensive intramyocardial confluent haemorrhages and widespread microthrombi in heart, brain, adrenals and kidney were found at autopsy. Thrombotic thrombocytopaenic purpura is an uncommon condition, which carries a high fatality rate if untreated. Awareness of this syndrome together with its high risk of sudden death underlines the importance of rapid diagnosis and treatment.     

Extensive Necrotic Purpura in Levamisole‐Adulterated Cocaine Abuse – A Case Report

Levamisole, which is used as an adulterated compound of cocaine, is currently being seen year after year in cocaine intoxication. For a few cases in the last decade, necrotic purpura and neutropenia after levamisole/cocaine intoxication have been described in the medical community. Herein, we present an original case of levamisole intoxication of a 40‐year‐old woman who smoked heroin and cocaine few during a month. She rapidly presented an extensive necrotic purpura of the nose, cheeks and extremities (lower and upper), and immunologic reactions (positive anti‐MPO and anti‐HNE). Levamisole was detected on hairs with ultra‐high performance liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry. The case reports also a probable cocaine supplier deceit, which bring pure drug for hospital investigation after the intoxication of his client. The intoxicated woman had survived with several skin and chronic pain complications. That case recalls the knowledge about levamisole with a short review of the forensic literature.     

Death following spontaneous recovery from cardiopulmonary arrest in a hospital mortuary: 'Lazarus phenomenon' in a case of alleged medical negligence

We report a possibly first forensic autopsy case of death following a spontaneous recovery from cardiopulmonary arrest (CPA) after clinical declaration of death: 'Lazarus phenomenon'. A 65-year-old male with congenital deafness and dumbness was found unconscious in his room at a public home. During pre-hospital and clinical resuscitation including defibrillation and medications for about 35 min, CPA persisted under electrocardiographic (ECG) monitoring and therefore, his death was pronounced. However, about 20 min later, a police officer who had been called for the postmortem investigation found the patient moving in the mortuary. The patient subsequently showed typical ECG signs and laboratory findings of early inferior wall myocardial infarction and died 4 days later. The forensic autopsy, due to alleged medical negligence, revealed myocardial infarction with thrombotic occlusion of the right coronary artery and secondary hypoxic brain damage. The present case and the related clinical literature suggest that, especially in cases of acute myocardial infarction in elderly patients, a careful observation to confirm death after discontinuation of resuscitation is recommended to provide appropriate medical care, irrespective of the quality or duration of advanced life supporting efforts.     

论强制医疗启动程序决定主体

强制医疗制度是国家医疗保健制度的有机组成部分,强制医疗有广义与狭义之分。狭义的强制医疗,如实施危害行为的精神病患者、甲类传染病患者等;广义的强制医疗,包括预防接种、指定医保单位就医等。强制医疗程序启动的决定主体必须是国家赋予相应权力的机关,其他任何单位不具有这样的权力,因而无权决定强制医疗程序启动。强制医疗主体的确定取决于强制医疗对象的危害程度、广度及时间等因素。     

网络环境下远程医疗若干法律问题初探

目前，世界上还没有国家通过立法认定远程医疗。远程医疗对人类医疗卫生事业的发展有着重大而深远的意义。自主性、契约性、地域性决定了远程医疗不同的法律特征及其调整机制。网络环境下的远程医疗涉及到计算机、法律、伦理等诸多领域的问题。本文选择了远程医疗设备评估、许可证及隐私权的保护等几个法律问题进行探讨。     

Inconceivable? Deducting the costs of fertility treatment

This Article considers whether infertile taxpayers can deduct their fertility treatment costs as medical expenses under Internal Revenue Code section 213 and whether they should be able to deduct them. Internal Revenue Code section 213 defines medical expenses as "amounts paid-for the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, or for the purpose of affecting any structure or function of the body." This definition is interpreted by reference to a baseline of normal biological functioning, which includes reproductive functioning. Most people conceive and bear children without having to incur expenses for fertility treatment. Expenses incurred to approximate the baseline of normal reproductive health are deductible, even if the taxpayer winds up better off, with a child, after the fertility treatment. The medical profession recognizes that infertility is a disease or condition. Infertility is a loss, just as a broken leg is a loss. Fertility treatment costs are thus medical expenses under section 213. In addition, given the existence of the medical expense deduction, taxpayers should be able to deduct the cost of fertility treatments, including IVF, egg donor, and surrogate procedures, under either an "ability-to-pay" or consequentialist normative approach. Reproduction is extremely important to most people. In addition, allowing taxpayers to deduct the costs of fertility treatment will encourage infertile taxpayers to elect the most effective treatment option and reduce the rate of risky multifetal pregnancies. This Article concludes that fertility treatment costs are deductible as medical expenses under current law and should be deductible as medical expenses.     

从医疗纠纷案例反思医学人文关怀

近年来,我国的医疗纠纷呈不断上升趋势,暴力伤医事件愈演愈烈,究其原因有各种各样的因素,其中对病人的人文关怀缺乏是主要原因之一。本文试图从一些典型医疗纠纷案例入手,从医学人文关怀视角剖析其纠纷发生的原因,提出在当前医疗环境中只有重视人文关怀才能改善医患关系,减少医疗纠纷,构建和谐社会。     

Identification of parent benzodiazepines by gas chromotography/mass spectroscopy (GC/MS) from urinary extracts treated with B-glucuronidase

Urinary glucuronide metabolites of the benzodiazepines were converted back to the parent molecules after treatment with B-glucuronidase. The benzodiazepines were extracted by a one-step liquid/liquid extraction from urine or by a liquid/solid phase extraction. For the limit of detection (LOD), a standard solution of diazepam and oxazepam was serially diluted and analyzed to the point at which a reproducible analytical result was no longer obtained. Using a temperature program and a splitless mode of injection, excellent quantitation was achieved within an 8-min run time. Based upon specimens obtained from patients under a physician's care, we have determined that urinary concentrations of the benzodiazepines > 200 ng/ml are most likely due to abuse rather than to a prescribed ingestion under strict medical surveillance. Therefore, the calibration standard and cutoff concentration for a positive result was set at 200 ng/ml.     

完善医疗制度 缓和医患关系

随着社会的发展,医疗纠纷数量日趋增多,成为卫生部门、医院、医生的最大难题,是继医疗改革之后的又一备受社会各界关注的热门话题,医患关系成为社会最不和谐的声音。医患关系紧张、医疗纠纷增多与我国目前相关制度、法规不健全有极大的关系。本文探讨通过建全相关制度、法规以缓和医患矛盾的问题,试图寻找合理处理医疗纠纷的办法。     

The legal role of medical professionals in decisions to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment: Part 3 (Victoria)

This is the final article in a series of three that examines the legal role of medical professionals in decisions to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment from adults who lack capacity. This article considers the position in Victoria. A review of the law in this State reveals that medical professionals play significant legal roles in these decisions. However, the law is problematic in a number of respects and this is likely to impede medical professionals' legal knowledge in this area. The article examines the level of training that medical professionals receive on issues such as refusal of treatment certificates and substitute decision-making, and the available empirical evidence as to the state of medical professionals' knowledge of the law at the end of life. It concludes that there are gaps in legal knowledge and that law reform is needed in Victoria. The article also draws together themes from the series as a whole, including conclusions about the need for more and better medical education and about law reform generally.     

Japan's new Mental Health Law: more light shed on dark places?

The legislative response to the crisis in the Japanese mental health care system has, on the one hand, been prophylactic. The major thrust of legal reform has been to prevent the human rights abuses which occurred all too easily under the former structure of legal regulation. Thus, a new category of admission, voluntary admission, has been recognized and promoted as the preferred hospitalization procedure. Standards for the physical treatment of patients have been promulgated, and procedures instituted for review of periodic reports and requests for discharge or improved physical treatment, with notification given patients as to their rights under the law. The model chosen for this new system of safeguards is far from a thorough-going legalistic model. Patients have no right to a judicial hearing. Even the informal hearing provided may be limited, or eliminated in the PRB's discretion. Reliance is placed upon the PRB and the Designated Physicians to protect the patient's rights and to prevent improper admission and treatment. However, the PRB is not independent. It is appointed by the prefectural governor and its functional units, the review panels, are controlled by Designated Physicians judging, in most cases, decisions or actions taken by other Designated Physicians. The individual Designated Physicians to whom are entrusted many of the critical diagnostic, therapeutic and physical treatment decisions respecting an individual patient will in many cases be, moreover, an employee of the hospital concerned. Beyond this closed administrative process, there are, in legal terms, only the extraordinary powers of the governor or Minister of Health and Welfare to detect improper admissions or physical treatment and remedy them by order. There are no appeal procedures and no access to the courts specifically provided within the Law's system of safeguards. Certain areas of concern, such as the right to refuse certain types of medical treatment, are not addressed in the Law at all. The new system of legal safeguards reflects the continuation of a paternalistic, medical model in which abuses will be more difficult to hide from the light of the new, carefully channeled and limited administrative review process. Related to but even beyond the question of the prevention of human rights abuses, the new Law is also concerned with the affirmative realization of the most important right of the mental patient, the right to effective treatment and a return to a normal place in society.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

From ‘Doctor Knows Best’ to Dignity: Placing Adults Who Lack Capacity at the Centre of Decisions About Their Medical Treatment

In 1989, the House of Lords first derived a ‘best interests’ test for the medical treatment of adults who lack capacity from the doctrine of necessity and, now codified, the test continues to apply today. The Mental Capacity Act 2005 sets out a non‐exhaustive checklist of relevant considerations, but it gives no particular priority to the patient's wishes. There is also no formal expectation that the patient will participate directly in any court proceedings in which her best interests are to be determined. This article will consider the advantages and disadvantages of providing additional guidance to decision‐makers in order to help them navigate both taking seriously the wishes of people who lack capacity and, at the same time, not abandoning patients who need help and support. More specifically, this article advocates formalising current best practice in the Court of Protection through the introduction of a series of rebuttable presumptions, or starting points.     

论过度医疗侵权行为及其法律规制

过度医疗一般是指,在医疗过程中,医师对患者的疾病实施不必要的诊疗措施,致使患者的医疗费用明显超过疾病诊疗实际需求的医疗行为或医疗过程。过度医疗认定的关键,在于把握过度医疗行为与适度医疗行为的界限,并且应将其与保护性医疗和防御性医疗加以严格区分。从法律意义上讲,过度医疗是一种发生在医疗过程中的特殊民事侵权行为,是指医疗机构及其医务人员在医疗活动中,以获取一定经济利益为目的,违法实施不必要的诊疗从而造成患者明显人身、财产损害并应承担相应法律责任的行为。过度医疗侵权应适用过错推定责任进行归责。《侵权责任法》立法上将过度医疗的范围,仅局限在"实施不必要的检查",不足以充分保护患者的合法权益,立法上应进一步做出扩充解释。     

Treatment of paraphilia in young adults with leuprolide acetate: a preliminary case report series

Some juveniles who engage in sexual offenses may have a paraphilia, a psychiatric disorder characterized by a pervasive pattern of deviant and impairing sexual fantasies, thoughts, and/or behaviors. Though there is no known cure for these conditions, paraphilias can be effectively managed using a multimodal treatment approach. This may include the use of psychotherapeutic and pharmacological treatment interventions, including antiandrogen medications. One such agent, leuprolide acetate (leuprolide), a luteinizing hormone-releasing-hormone agonist, has been shown to be effective in reducing paraphilic symptoms in adult patients. To date, however, there is no published data on its use and effectiveness in adolescent and young adult paraphilic patients. This study consists of a case report series of six young adult patients treated with leuprolide. All subjects had been diagnosed with at least one paraphilia (i.e., Pedophilia, Sexual Sadism, Frotteurism, and Paraphilia Not Otherwise Specified). All subjects had been refractory to treatment in a residential program for adolescent sex offenders prior to initiation of leuprolide. All six subjects reported a reduction in sexually deviant symptoms following treatment with leuprolide. Clinicians rated four as much improved and two as moderately improved. The treatment was well tolerated in all six subjects. This preliminary case series supports the conclusion that leuprolide deserves further examination as a potentially safe and effective component in the treatment of young adult patients with paraphilia.     

The medical provision of hydration and nutrition: two very different outcomes in Victoria and Florida

Decisions to withhold or withdraw medical hydration and nutrition are amongst the most difficult that confront patients and their families, medical and other health professionals all over the world. This article discusses two cases relating to lawful withdrawal and withholding of a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tube (PEG) from incompetent patients with no hope of recovery. Victoria and Florida have statutory frameworks that provide for advance directives, however in both Gardner; Re BWV and Schindler v Schiavo; Re Schiavo the respective patients did not leave documented instructions. The article analyses the two cases and their outcomes from legal, medical and ethical perspectives.     

Raising the "civilized minimum" of pain amelioration for prisoners to avoid cruel and unusual punishment

This Article addresses the problems with our nation's cultural and legal prohibitions against certain pain management treatments. The practice of pain management has not kept pace with the many medical advances that have made it possible for physicians to ameliorate most pain. The Author notes that some patients are denied access to certain forms of treatments due to the mistaken belief that addiction may ensue. Additionally, some individuals are under-treated for their pain to a greater degree than are others. This is especially the case for our nation's prisoners. The Author contends that prisoners are frequently denied effective pain amelioration. He notes, however, that there has been improvement in medical treatment in general for prisoners due to court challenges based on the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Yet, due to the protection of qualified immunity given to jailers and prison health care providers, prisoners cannot bring a claim for negligence or medical malpractice, they must allege a violation of their constitutional rights, a significantly higher legal standard. Prisoners must meet a subjective test showing that there was a deliberate indifference to their medical needs that violates the protection of the Eighth Amendment. The Author concludes that because medical advances have made it possible to alleviate most pain suffering, withholding pain treatment or providing a less effective treatment is tantamount to inflicting pain and should be viewed as a violation of the Eighth Amendment.     

白血病死亡的法医学鉴定

材料和方法回顾性研究我所2003～2005年间检案实践中4例白血病死亡的法医学鉴定案件。结果4例死者生前均无明显的血液病症状,其中1例死亡前经临床确诊为急性颗粒增多型早幼粒细胞性白血病（M3）,另外3例均无血液病相应的临床资料。尸体解剖主要所见：（1）多器官（尤其是脑）白血病细胞浸润;（2）肝、脾肿大;（3）凝血功能障碍引起的出血倾向,如：皮肤紫癜、创口渗血或迁延不愈等;（4）可排除暴力死亡。结论白血病细胞脑浸润引起的脑内血肿和血液病的并发症弥漫性血管内凝血（DIC）是导致死亡的常见原因;在白血病患者突发死亡的案例中,死者生前往往缺乏典型的血液病症状,或仅有轻微的症状未引起注意;此类案件的法医学鉴定应注意收集临床资料,必须进行系统的尸体解剖检验,在有检验条件的情况下应进行骨髓细胞学病理检验。     

刑事强制医疗客观要件的反思与重构

强制医疗的客观要件包括行为条件和侵害法益条件两方面。通过对司法实践的考察发现:强制医疗的客观要件不仅存在放任精神病人继续实施危害社会行为的风险,而且还存在不规范适用的情况。出现上述问题的根源在于强制医疗的客观要件自身具有不合理性,只有改革强制医疗的客观要件,才能够化解风险、规范司法适用。不限制危害行为和侵害法益是国外强制医疗客观要件的普遍模式。我国应当将"实施的行为的社会危害性已经达到犯罪程度"作为强制医疗的客观要件,同时有必要丰富强制医疗的执行方式,在住院治疗之外,增加门诊治疗。