Technical and interpretive pitfalls of postmortem CT: Five examples of errors revealed by autopsy

Image acquisition of dead bodies, particularly using postmortem computed tomography (PMCT), has become common in forensic investigations worldwide. Meanwhile, in countries such as Japan which have an extremely low rate of autopsy, PMCT is being increasingly used in the clinical field to certify the cause of death (COD) without performing an autopsy or toxicological tests, even in cases of unnatural death. Additionally, these PMCT images are predominantly interpreted by clinical personnel such as emergency physicians or clinicians who are not trained in PMCT interpretation and who work for the police, that is, the so-called police doctors. Many potential pitfalls associated with the use of PMCT have been previously described in textbooks and published papers, including the pitfalls of not performing a complete forensic pathology investigation, and the use of physicians without appropriate PMCT training to interpret PMCT and direct death investigation and certification. We describe five examples in which apparent misdiagnosis of COD based on PMCT misinterpretation was revealed by autopsy. Here are the five examples of errors: (1) Postmortem changes were misinterpreted as COD, (2) resuscitation effects were misinterpreted as COD, (3) COD was determined after an incomplete examination, (4) fatal findings caused by external origin were wrongly interpreted as ‘of internal origin’ based on PMCT, and (5) non-fatal findings on PMCT were wrongly interpreted as fatal. Interpretation of PMCT by appropriately trained physicians and an accompanying complete forensic investigation, including autopsy when indicated, is necessary to prevent significant errors in COD determination and related potential adverse medicolegal consequences.     

误读行政法及其对经济法的危害

控制行政权力和保护公民权利是行政法的应有之意,也是行政法为行政机关设定义务和责任的目的;但是,受近代德国和前苏联行政法的影响,中国行政法长期被误认为政府管理公民的工具。误读行政法不但混淆行政法和经济法的关系,而且造成人们对经济法的错误理解。     

《汉语大词曲》误释《醒世姻缘传》词目辨正

<汉语大词典>是一部大型多卷本的汉语词汇巨著,在质量上远远超出同等规模的几部大型语文词典.但它在释义方面仍存在着一些问题,其中对古代小说<醒世姻缘传>中的词目误释就已经发现误释了10条.这些误释属于"硬伤",在一定程度上影响这部词典的质量.因此发现这些误释,并加以订正,对于将来修订这部巨著具有重要意义.