Pathological Fractures in Spinal Cord Injury Patients

  • March 31, 2020 at 7:41 pm
What is a pathological fracture? Spinal cord injuries cause life-altering paralysis of the limbs and place the patient at risk for long term complications, including pathological fractures.  A pathological fracture is a broken bone that is caused by disease, rather than injury. After a person suffers a spinal cord injury, they have immediate bone loss [&hellip Read More...

The Characteristics of Bruises

  • September 26, 2019 at 10:45 am
What Affects the Appearance of a Bruise? Bruising is one of the most common types of physical injury observed in victims of violence, assault, and abuse. There are several factors that affect a bruise’s appearance, such as: Tissue type Loose connective tissue type sites, such as the eye, face, and genitalia show more bruising. Fat [&hellip Read More...

Physical Abuse or Easy Bruising?

  • June 28, 2019 at 1:00 pm
PHYSICAL SIGNS OF ABUSE When searching “physical signs of abuse,” many journals and websites list the following physical characteristics: Bruises Cuts Burns Restraint or grip markings Black eyes Unusual pattern of injury Repeated trips to the Emergency Department ….with “bruises” often listed first since most are caused by physical injury. However, there are underlying conditions [&hellip Read More...

One Deadly Punch Leads To Prison

  • April 26, 2019 at 1:17 pm
Our faithful readers may remember that I wrote a newsletter back in 2011 called “Can One Punch Kill” but it has been many years since then and I asked one of my nurses to write up a newsletter. Ironically, she dug through some of my ideas and came across the same article. Her take on [&hellip Read More...

Fentanyl: An involuntary intoxication defense?

  • March 29, 2019 at 11:00 am
A strange occurrence at a Massachusetts hospital Articles by Forensic Magazine and New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) Between 2012 to 2016, fourteen patients showed up at a Massachusetts hospital with a strange problem.  All 14 patients had developed amnesia and cognitive problems with orientation and attention.  In addition, they all had a strange lack [&hellip Read More...