Death by chainsaw: fatal kickback injuries to the neck

Each year over 3 million new chainsaws are sold in the United States. The operation of these newer saws combined with the millions of older chainsaws in circulation results in over 28,000 chainsaw-related injures annually. The majority of the injuries involve the hands and lower extremities with less than 10% involving injuries to the head and neck regions. Deaths while operating a chainsaw are extremely rare. The most common hazards associated with chainsaws are injuries caused by kickback, pushback, and pull-in. Kickback is the most common and poses the greatest hazard. Kickback occurs when the rotating chain is stopped suddenly by contact with a more solid area throwing the saw rapidly backward toward the operator. The cause of most injuries can be traced to improper use of the saw or poor judgment on part of the operator. We present two fatal chainsaw deaths; one with an older style saw, and the other with a modern type. In both cases the victims died from fatal injuries received to the neck region from a chainsaw kickback. The first case involved a 49-year-old white male operating an older style chainsaw with limited safety features. The second case involved a 38-year old white male who was operating a newer model chainsaw equipped with a low kickback chain in an unsafe manner.     

Macroscopic findings for the exclusion of a forensic relevant soil embedded resting period in skeletal remains--an approach based upon literature

A reliable determination of the post mortem interval (PMI) in human bones has neither been found by morphological nor by intensive analyses of other kinds. In most cases of legal medicine practice the question of PMI is restricted to a forensically relevant resting period. In a survey based upon literature, all osteological signs of decomposition, which have not been described for a soil embedded resting period of under 50 years, were collected. 21 research reports could be found, describing macroscopic findings on soil-embedded human bones with known PMI. All in all, 1295 individuals were examined in these investigations. A censorious review of the summarized results found in literature reveals that the following findings have never been seen in a PMI of 50 years or less. Outer appearance: macroscopically no adipocere, deep incisions of the outer compact layer, extensive defects of the bone surface, intense brownish-black lawn of microorganisms, fraying of the outer lamellar system, lifting of the cortical area, torsion of the tissue, attached brushit, bone manually breakable. On freshly sawn cross sections: lack of adipocere, brushit in the marrow area, reduced or lack of UV-fluorescence.     

Death due to unusual position of the body--an explanationfor the consequence of reduced venous reflux to the heart

The article describes the case of a 29-year-old woman who was found dead in her apartment on a bar stool with the body being maximally retroflected in the lumbar region, the head hanging down and the feet and hands barely touching the floor. On external inspection of the body the cuff-like distribution of hypostasis on the forearms and lower legs was consistent with the position in which the body was found. There were no signs of foreign intervention. At autopsy massive congestion was found in the internal organs as well as pulmonary and cerebral edema. In the ventral region of the lumbar intervertebral discs superficial hemorrhages were detected. The alcohol content was 3.40 per thousand in the blood and 4.43 per thousand in the urine. As the essential pathogenetic mechanisms responsible for death reduced venous reflux to the heart in combination with postural asphyxia and the influence of alcohol are discussed.     

Medicolegal aspects of witnessed suicide due to gunshot to the head. II. Legal medicine aspects and examination of the firing hand

The second part of the paper on suicides by gunshots to the head in the presence of witnesses focuses on relevant morphological autopsy findings such as entrance site, signs of close range or contact shots, bullet path etc. and also discusses selected aspects of ascertaining gunshot residues. For the identification of the shooter an integral medicolegal assessment of all the facts including the investigation results and the autopsy findings is essential. However, the morphological findings alone do not allow safe diagnosis, as for example in a homicide the temporal region, which was affected in all our cases, may have been deliberately chosen by the perpetrator as a localization typical of suicide. Thus methods to ascertain gunshot residues on the firing hand (by means of adhesive films and the polyvinyl-alcohol collection method--PVAL) are of great practical importance. In seven cases adhesive films and/or the polyvinyl-alcohol collection method were used. In one case the gunshot residues (GSR) were analysed by means of tape lifts and subsequent scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was found that especially the combined application of topographical (adhesive tape/PVAL) and cumulative (SEM) methods allowed for the doubtless identification of the shooter, thus usually confirming the suicide. By the example of one case it is demonstrated that without the immediate collection of evidence at the scene objective reconstruction of the event becomes impossible. On the basis of the reported cases recommendations are finally given for a differentiated approach in the medicolegal evaluation of alleged witnessed suicide by gunshot (to the head).     

Private nurses and playboy bunnies: explaining permissible sex discrimination

Discrimination on the basis of sex in employment is illegal--usually. In cases in which employers contend that sex-based hiring is necessary to protect the privacy interests of their customer, however, and in cases in which employers contend that sex-based hiring is necessary to provide a particular type of sexual titillation for their customers, courts sometimes do allow employers to discriminate. Courts say that they allow sex discrimination in employment when it is necessary to preserve the "essence of the business." This Article shows, however, that there is no plausible conception of business "essence" that can explain and make sense of the existing case law. The Article therefore looks beyond the courts' rhetoric to explain and defend why courts distinguish in the ways they do between permissible and impermissible sex discrimination in employment.     

Trace analysis of peroxide explosives by high performance liquid chromatography-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-APCI-MS/MS) for forensic applications

An HPLC-APCI-MS(/MS) method for the (trace) analysis of the most commonly encountered peroxide explosives, hexamethylenetriperoxidediamine (HMTD) and triacetonetriperoxide (TATP), has been developed. With this method, HMTD and TATP have been analyzed in the same run. (Pseudo-)molecular ions of these peroxides have been obtained as base peak under the same condition. A series of product ions was produced from these pseudo-molecular ions ([HMTD - 1]+ and [TATP + NH4]+) in the MS/MS analysis. We also pioneered in showing that a TATP molecular ion [TATP + H]+ can be observed with HPLC-MS/MS. The limit of detection for HMTD and TATP was 0.26 and 3.3 ng, respectively, on column by HPLC-MS in the Full Scan mode and 0.08 and 0.8, respectively, by HPLC-APCI-MS/MS in Selected Reaction Monitoring (single mass unit) mode. The method presented has been applied successfully for the identification of peroxides in the bulk solid state (powder sample), as well as in post-blast extracts originating from a forensic case. For the post-blast extracts, the use of tandem MS has been shown clearly to be of crucial importance for the identification and detection of the peroxide explosives.     

Comparison of gasolines using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and target ion response

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to compare gasoline samples obtained from different sources based on the difference in amounts of certain components found in the headspace of gasoline using target response data. Many suspected arson cases involve comparing an ignitable liquid extracted from fire debris to a liquid found in a suspect's possession to determine if they could have had a common source. Various component ratios are proposed for determining if an unevaporated gasoline sample could have originated from the same source as an evaporated gasoline extracted from fire debris. Fifty and 75% evaporated gasoline samples were both found to contain similar ratios of certain components when compared with its unevaporated source gasoline. The results of the comparisons in this study demonstrate that for cases involving gasoline that has been evaporated up to 50% and extracted from pine, it is possible to eliminate comparison samples as originating from the same source. The results of the 75% comparisons suggest it may be possible to apply the same type of comparison to cases involving 75% evaporated gasoline.