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Traumatic Brain Injury or Mental Illness?

TBI and Mental Illness What if a defendant commits a crime because of being affected by either an acute brain injury or an acquired or inherited brain disease? This is called the “brain defense.” In criminal cases, defense attorneys are increasingly using clinical evidence of brain injury to either establish their client’s innocence or mitigate Read More...

The Characteristics of Bruises

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 Read More...

One Deadly Punch Leads To Prison

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 Read More...

Aging a bruise on Autopsy

Those of you who follow me know I have several posts about how you can’t date bruises by color, but there is emerging literature to show that bruises can be dated on tissue analysis: How can a bruise’s age be determined if not by color? Once the bruise is formed, the body reacts by activating Read More...

Infection, Delirium, and Homicide

In April, I covered delirium and noted that there are many underlying etiologies that can cause it. One such etiology is infection. Infection and our body Our bodies are constantly fighting infections. Our skin is the first barrier, but we are often exposed to pathogens through open wounds, our respiratory system, or our mouths. Most Read More...