The Importance of Forensic Pathology Part 1
Getting It Right – The Importance of Forensic Pathology Recently, one of our Forensic Nurse Consultants at Godoy Medical Forensics was involved in a 2016 case in Mississippi regarding a mother who was arrested, prosecuted for the capital murder of her 8-day old daughter, and was detained without bail for nearly a year. The mother, […]
What is Sudden Infant Death Syndrome?
Potential Biomarker for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is defined as a sudden and unexplained cause of death in a seemingly healthy baby that is less than a year old. This type of death usually occurs during sleep and the cause has alluded researchers for decades. As of 2019, there were […]
Childhood Sexual Abuse and Its Effect on Criminal Behavior
How Adverse Childhood Experiences Relate to Criminal Behavior: Part 3 The definition of child sexual abuse has been controversial. Some scholars, practitioners, and organizations believe that peer-perpetrated abuse should be included in the definition and others believe that the definition should be limited to interactions between children and adults. Therefore, the research includes two separate […]
How Can Early Environments Influence Future Criminal Behavior?
Environmental Influences and Effects on Future Criminal Behavior A healthy family environment is critical to a child’s emotional and physical wellbeing. We all know that no one is perfect and therefore no family is perfect. However, a severely dysfunctional family can influence antisocial or criminal behavior. Known risk factors are poverty, education level, parenting […]
When Does Discipline Cross The Line Of Abuse?
Discipline or Child Abuse? Many experts are asked to answer this question when they are retained on child abuse cases. It is not as black and white as one might think. Corporal punishment is defined as “an act carried out with the intention of causing a child to experience physical pain, but not injury, for […]
What Are The Long-Term Effects of Repetitive Head Trauma?
Traumatic Brain Injury in Criminal Cases After Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), people can experience personality changes, social anxiety, irritability, anger, depression, general anxiety, mood swings, emotional lability, and feelings of being overwhelmed. The bottom line is that the brain no longer functions exactly the way it did prior to the head injury. The location of […]
Does Childhood Trauma Lead To Criminal Behavior?
How Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Relate to Criminal Behavior This article is the first in a series about the effects of stressful and traumatic events in a child’s life and its relationship to the likelihood of this child committing serious, violent crimes later in life. These events can include such things as physical abuse, sexual […]
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 […]
What a criminal attorney needs to know about brain injuries.
In April, I covered delirium and noted that there are many underlying etiologies that can cause it. One of those underlying causes is brain injuries, or intracranial processes such as stroke, tumor or traumatic injury. Symptoms of certain intracranial processes are not always immediately apparent or obvious to the person being affected or even their […]
How using a nurse can help you win your case.
The nurses and doctors at Godoy Medical Forensics offer medico-legal consulting in criminal and civil cases and we can assist you in your case development and at trial. In many cases you do need a doctor to testify, but that doesn’t necessarily exclude the need for a nurse. It may actually save you money if you […]
