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.     

Cardiac concussion: definition, differential diagnosis, and cases presentation and the legal ramification of a misdiagnosis

A cardiac concussion is caused by a sudden, nonpenetrating, localized impact to the chest that is theorized to result in almost simultaneous sudden death from a disruption to the conductive system. The detailed external/internal forensic examination of the body reveals no evidence of structural, pathologic, or histologic signs of trauma to the heart. A cardiac concussion is a rare and often overlooked cause of sudden death. This type of sudden death is typically seen among younger individuals participating in sports involving projectiles and, to a lesser degree, where collisions occur. Cardiac concussions are clinically, pathologically, and chemically different from a cardiac contusion. The objective of this paper will be to define cardiac concussion, differentiate between cardiac concussion and cardiac contusion, and describe the clinical and pathologic features of a 32-year-old white male who died of a cardiac concussion following a collision with a catcher during a softball game. The civil ramification of incorrectly diagnosing the manner of death in cases of death involving a cardiac concussion will also be addressed.     

About the Authors

Biography

About the Authors     

Analysis and classification of common vegetable oils

The analysis of fatty acids from common vegetable oils was investigated for application to forensic casework. A base-catalyzed transesterification of the fatty acids to fatty acid methyl esters using tetramethylammonium hydroxide was simple, rapid, straightforward and inexpensive. Canola, corn, olive, peanut, safflower, soybean and sunflower oils were able to be classified based on their fatty acid methyl ester profiles. Using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, the detection limits for canola, corn, olive, peanut and safflower oils were determined to be 0.4 mg/mL or less and 0.2 mg/mL or less for soybean and sunflower oils.     

Drawings of the opposite sex: Continued use of the draw a person test and young state hospital patients

The Draw A Person test has continued to be one of the most frequently utilized psychological tests with children and adolescents. This is especially true for the child/adolescent populations in state hospitals. Because of the frequent criticism leveled against the DAP's validity, this study was undertaken in order to provide normative data for the DAP with this particular clinical population. Previous research has focused on the drawings of the same sex as the subjects; this study deals with the characteristics of the drawings of the opposite sex. The subjects were 84 male and 66 female psychiatric patients from the Adolescent Unit (AU) at Rusk State Hospital. As each patient was admitted to the AU, he was scheduled for psychological testing, with the DAP, the Revised Beta, and the MMPI being a part of this testing. The results of this study indicate that IQ ranking is the most significant factor affecting DAP test performance by male subjects. IQ ranking was not found to significantly influence the drawings by females. Neither MMPI test performance nor social background factors were shown to significantly affect DAP test performance. It is suggested that in order for the DAP to become a more objectively utilized personality technique, a scoring method should be developed that takes into account the overall quality of the drawing in conjunction with the individual details of each area of the figure drawn. More focus should also be given to the characteristics of the opposite-sex figure drawn by the subjects and its potential interpretation.Received his M.S. degree in psychology from North Texas State University in 1968. Current interests include establishment of residential psychiatric facilties for children and adolescents, development of new treatment modalities for children and adolescents (i.e., Wilderness Camping Programs for emotionally disturbed children and adolescents), and understanding and developing working knowledge of the criminally insane child or adolescent.Received his Ph.D. in experimental psychology from the University of Alabama. His research interests include program evaluation and psychometric studies of psychological tests.Received his B.A. degree in mathematics at the University of South Florida in 1968 and his M.S. degree in statistics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1970. His current interest is mental health statistics.Received his Ph.D. from Texas Tech University in 1975. His current interest is in assertion training.     

China, Nuclear Security and Terrorism: Implications for the United States

This article outlines Chinese strategic nuclear forces and the Chinese philosophical approach to nuclear security. It then focuses on the domestic conditions in China which could precipitate vulnerabilities to its nuclear forces. From information about internal security conditions in China, specific internal threats to Chinese nuclear security will be derived. Based on these threats, several outsider and insider scenarios will be outlined involving a variety of terrorist or terrorist related behaviors. These notional scenarios will include everything from overrun or attack, to diversion, to cyber terrorism, to sabotage. The article will then cover what these scenarios and the possible Chinese reaction to them may mean for the security, military and diplomatic strategies of the United States.     

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Current Concepts and Controversies

The diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) sometimes is raised in compensation claims, in tort settings, and in other medical–legal settings. Accordingly, health-care and legal professionals working in these areas need to be familiar with the current findings and controversies concerning the disorder. The purpose of this article is twofold. First, we review the most important findings concerning the clinical features, etiology, and treatment of PTSD. Second, we examine six major controversies concerning the disorder that are relevant to psychologists and other medical–legal practitioners: (a) the issue of what qualifies as a traumatic stressor, (b) the question of whether traumatic stress causes brain damage, (c) the validity of the concept of delayed-onset PTSD, (d) the recovered memory controversy, (e) the question of whether PTSD can arise when the person has no memory of the trauma (e.g., due to concussion), and (f) issues concerning PTSD malingering. Throughout this article we offer recommendations for psychological and other medical–legal practice in relation to the evaluation of PTSD claims.