Luke May of Seattle--"America's Sherlock Holmes".

This paper provides a brief biography of Luke S. May (1886-1965), whose pioneering work in forensic science in the United States has not received full recognition. May began as a private detective in Salt Lake City, Utah, shortly after the turn of the century and later established his own agency, the Revelare International Secret Service, which he moved to Seattle, Washington, in 1919. Although basically self-taught in scientific matters, May built a solid reputation among police agencies and attorneys in the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada as a serious and effective scientific investigator in the era before public crime laboratories. This reputation as "America's Sherlock Holmes" also led to his being consulted on the establishment of the first American crime laboratory at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, and on a laboratory for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police at Regina, in Saskatchewan, Canada. He contributed to a landmark case of court acceptance of toolmark identification, invented specialized instruments, and founded an institute to teach scientific criminal investigation to police officers. His earliest associates were John L. Harris and J. Clark Sellers, both of whom became recognized document examiners on the West Coast and were followed by a second and a third generation of practitioners.     

Medicaid and access to child health care in Chicago.

In this article we examine how increasing the reimbursement of physicians and expanding Medicaid eligibility affect access to care for children in Cook County, Illinois, which overlies Chicago. Using Medicaid claims and other data at the zip-code level, we compare the places where Medicaid children live with the places where all the physicians who treat children and those who accept Medicaid patients have their practices. Our findings suggest that the recent changes in legislation are unlikely to benefit extremely poor children, who are more likely to live in depressed inner-city areas, where there are few physicians. "Near-poor" children whose homes are dispersed throughout the county, who are now eligible for Medicaid as a result of the recent changes, are likely to see improvements in their access to care. Further changes in policy, aimed at enhancing the capacity of institutions providing care, could improve access for the children of the inner city.     

Complications following cell therapy

So far, the law in the Federal Republic of Germany still allows the injection of fresh-cell preparations from animals as a roborant to increase the vitality of the organism and to strengthen the body's immune defense system. The use of "sicca-cell" preparations was provisionally forbidden in 1987 by the Federal Health Organization (Bundesgesundheitsamt; BGA). Prohibition of fresh-cell injections would have exceeded the authority of this office, although the same serious reservations also applied in the case of this treatment method. Several publications that have appeared since 1955 have reported serious complications of this therapy, some life-threatening and some even lethal. Two further cases are now added: (1) A woman aged 69 had been receiving treatment with cell injections for 9 years. Immediately after an injection of sicca cells she collapsed and was hospitalized; 7 days thereafter she developed an ascending paralysis with increasing inability to swallow or breathe. She died 25 days after the injection as a consequence of central and peripheral respiratory failure. Autopsy revealed the alterations typical for acute Landry-Guillain-Barré-Strohl syndrome. (2) A 76-year-old healthy woman had been receiving treatment with fresh-cell preparations for several years. After an injection of cell suspensions a painful local swelling was observed. The symptoms were interpreted as the consequence of an iatrogenic local hematoma, and repeated punctures were performed to obtain blood. The patient was transferred to a surgical department for further therapy. Two days after the injection she suddenly died with signs of acute cardiovascular failure. Autopsy revealed the signs of a fulminating clostridial infection and also the characteristic signs of Landry-Guillain-Barré syndrome with involvement of the autonomic nervous system. In both cases the development of an inflammatory process in the peripheral nervous system could be interpreted as an immune-mediated allergic disease, related to the repeated injection of heterologous antigenic material containing nervous tissues. This hypothesis would also explain the two other cases already published and would be consistent with the observed perivenous leukoencephalopathy of the central nervous system. The human disease pictures correspond to the well-established animal models of EAEM (experimental allergic encephalomyelitis) and EAN (experimental allergic neuritis). The pathogenesis is discussed; the major role of the central and peripheral nervous system is stressed, with special reference to the risk of acute autonomic failure. The need for specific autopsy techniques for the investigation of the entire nervous system, including spinal cord, roots, spinal ganglia and peripheral nerves with sympathetic chains, is raised.     

Injuries of the large arteries of the brain and vital reactions. An electron microscopy study

In 90 forensic autopsies (Craniocerebral injury, gunshot, stabbing, blow, strangulation, etc.), semithin sections of great arteries were prepared from around 770 Epon blocks and checked for vital reactions at the mural and intimal ruptures. In 21 cases in which death had occurred immediately or soon after the trauma, with three exceptions, there was a subsequent electron microscopic investigation. In all six mural ruptures and in five of ten intimal ruptures, thrombocyte aggregates were found at the rupture margins. In five intimal ruptures, the possibility of the occurrence of preparations injuries had to be considered. In five cases, the results of the histological study were negative. The success rate is limited in principle in such a screening test since there are technical difficulties in preparing serial sections on long vessels. Death was rapid and the thrombocytes were observed to adhere to the injured wall sites immediately after the trauma. The "thrombocyte sign" is thus of substantial importance as the earliest local vital reaction. In two control cases (strangulation), thrombocyte aggregates were found at intimal ruptures of the basilar artery, which were regarded as the results of stretching via the vertebral arteries during attacks to the neck. The healing processes of intimal ruptures and traumatic medial necrosis in incomplete ruptures occurring later in life are discussed. Even if a cadaver is a few days old, the histological findings at the level of the thrombocytes can be evaluated.     

The cutaneous ink sign: a tipoff to suicide or suicide notes

The presence of smeared or unsmeared ink on the skin resulting from the writing process has been observed in a number of suicide victims who have left suicide notes. The authors report a case of a palmar "cutaneous ink sign" and discuss its forensic science import.     

The writings of Sir Bernard Spilsbury: Part I

This is a two-part historical feature, highlighting the rare writings of Sir Bernard Spilsbury, the recognized leader of British forensic medicine in the first half of the 20th century. Parts I and II were compiled from the publications of the Medicolegal Society of Great Britain, where Sir Bernard Spilsbury served as President in 1933. Although his profile was presented previously in this Journal (vol. 2, no. 2, 179-182, 1981), it is felt that much of Sir Bernard Spilsbury's personality comes out in his writings and recordings of his speeches in the Medicolegal Society publications. Part I includes his lecture on "The Medico-Legal Significance of Bruises," presented before the Medicolegal Society in 1938; and a short case report read before the Medicolegal Society in 1924. The subject of the case report was sudden death from inhibition. Part II will contain two papers from the Medicolegal Society publications.