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Retrospective analysis was undertaken of all autopsy reports where cerebral palsy had been documented at Forensic Science SA, South Australia, over an 18 year period from 1998–2015. Forty-eight cases were identified (M:F 29:19; age range 2–78 years; mean 37.8 years). The majority of deaths were due to respiratory complications (N = 17; 35.4%), with pneumonia being responsible for 12 fatalities (25%). Cardiovascular disease was the next leading cause of death (N = 9; 18.8%), with ischaemic heart disease accounting for eight fatalities (16.7%) Other categories of death were epilepsy (N = 8; 16.7%), gastrointestinal complications (N = 5; 10.4%), burns (N = 2; 4.2%), and miscellaneous (N = 7; 14.6%). The highest number of deaths occurred from 31–40 years (N = 11), followed by 21–30 years (N = 10). The number of deaths increased over time, with nine deaths from 1998–2003, 19 from 2004–2009, and 20 from 2010–2015. While cerebral palsy is associated with reduced life expectancy, survival into later adult...

Two adult males are reported whose deaths occurred 19 h and five days, respectively, after blunt craniocervical injury. In case 1, although interstitial haemorrhage was present in four samples of bruised paravertebral muscle, only one sample had an early acute inflammatory cell infiltrate. In case 2 microscopic examination of two bruises showed haemorrhage into muscle and adipose tissue, again with no significant inflammatory reaction and only occasional haemosiderin-containing macrophages. These cases demonstrate considerable variability in histological response to blunt trauma in human tissues and suggest that samples taken from areas of extravasated blood in a bruise may not manifest the type of vital reaction that occurs in areas where there has been direct tissue damage. As the presence and/or degree of inflammation may be influenced by the site of tissue sampling, interpretations of the age of a bruise based on histologic reaction should, therefore, be undertaken with caution.

In South Australia it is mandatory to report to the Coroner any death that occurs during, as a result of, or within 24 h of a surgical or an invasive medical or diagnostic procedure. This study was performed to address the question of how often an autopsy directed by the Coroner will reveal death resulted from a complication of a surgical or an invasive medical or diagnostic procedure and to document the complications that were encountered relating to procedures that had been performed during admission to a hospital. A review of Coronial cases that had been investigated by post-mortem examination identified 35 deaths resulting from complications arising from 223 cases that had undergone an autopsy following death subsequent to a surgical or invasive medical or diagnostic procedure. However, due to case selection it was not possible to deduce overall rates of death arising from complications of procedures. Nonetheless, the study confirms the role of the autopsy in identifying or excluding procedure-related...

The identification of tattoos often provides important forensic information when investigating criminal activity. Tattoos may be used by police intelligence as a source of identification of known criminals. Tattoos may be effaced by laser surgery so that they can no longer been seen by visual inspection of the skin. However, remnants of pigment persist within the dermis. This paper describes a novel technique using infrared photography that can demonstrate the presence of tattoos that have been ablated by lasers. The method provides adequate detail of the tattoo's characteristics to aid in forensic identification. A literature search did not reveal any known methods of detecting latent residue inks after removal or detecting alteration of a pre-existing tattoo.