Main description:

Twenty-five years have passed since Cyril Polson last updated his classic text Essentials of Forensic Medicine. This much anticipated edition maintains the distinctive and popular case-based approach of the original editions, but thoroughly revised to reflect modern twenty-first century practice. This fifth edition presents the reader with a united pathological and clinical perspective of all aspects of forensic medicine for the forensic practitioner and those working in allied disciplines.

Contents:

General Forensic Pathology
Death investigation and forensic medicine
The medicolegal autopsy
The pathologist at the scene
Cause, mechanism and manner of death
Decomposition and time of death
Identification
General forensic histopathology
The histopathology of injury
General forensic neuropathology
Forensic science for the pathologist
Forensic aspects of the skeleton
Forensic aspect of artifacts
The pathologist and ethics

Pathology of Un-natural Death
Pathology of blunt impact trauma
Pathology of trauma from sharp instruments
Pathology of firearms injury
Rapid anoxial death (asphyxia)
Pressure on the neck
Pathology of anogenital injury
Drowning and death in water
Pathology of death at the extremes of temperature

Special Forensic Pathology
Pathology of explosive injury
Pathology of fatal descent from height
Pathology of death in vehicular collision
Sudden natural death of adults
Sudden peripartum death
Sudden death of the newborn
Sudden natural death of infants and children
Fatal physical abuse of infants and children
Fatal head injury in infants and children
Vertebral artery injury
Sudden death during sport and exertion
Death in custody and torture
Death in the industrial workplace
Death from therapeutic complications
Alcohol and forensic medicine
Death from illicit drug use
Death from poisoning
Mass incidents and natural disasters
Unascertained cause of death
The pathologist and the criminal justice system

Appendix: Special dissections for medicolegal autopsies
Dissection of the anterior neck
Dissection of the posterior neck
Dissection of the posterior torso and limbs
Removal of the extracranial vertebral arteries
Dissection of the perineum and pelvic organs
Removal and dissection of the eyes
Examination and sampling of fixed specimens