Lawyers Guide to Forensic Medicine

Book excerpt: This is an updated edition of a successful handbook already popular with barristers, solicitors and a number of judges as a readily-accessible source of quick reference on a wide range of medico-legal topics. Written by a legally-qualified Professor of Forensic Pathology and former Home Office pathologist, it utilises more than 40 years experience to offer a succinct summary of over 200 medico-legal topics. Though arranged in alphabetical order, this is not just a medical dictionary, as these contain much that is not relevant to legal practice and fail to provide a sufficiently expansive account of medico-legal matters. Instead, it is a carefully-selected compendium dealing with those subjects which are most commonly encountered in case-papers, conferences and the courts. It offers a concise overview of factors of importance in many medico-legal problems, from alcohol to head injury, from traffic deaths to child abuse, so that the medical evidence can be quickly evaluated and any deficiencies detected. it indicates the limits of reliability of various procedures and commonly-held medical opinions and points out those which are frequently over interpreted.; Liberally provided with clear line diagrams, including body-maps, it provides a graphic exposition of many anatomical and medical terms, free from professional jargon.