Medicine, Science and the Law最新文献

{"title":"Misconnected chest tube: An extremely unusual fatal complication of secondary pneumothorax.","authors":"Veronika Heckmann,&nbsp;Gábor Simon,&nbsp;Tamás F Molnár","doi":"10.1177/00258024231165960","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00258024231165960","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A rare and fatal complication of suction drainage of secondary spontaneous pneumothorax is reported. The patient, likely by a mistake, arbitrarily connected the oxygen supply tube to the thoracic drain. The sharp increase of intrapleural pressure combined with the atmospheric intraalveolar environment caused diffuse lung injury and cardiopulmonary collapse without a direct lung injury. The conflicting interests of patient autonomy and patient safety require further consideration.</p>","PeriodicalId":18484,"journal":{"name":"Medicine, Science and the Law","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9965640","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Supporting people with immigration issues in the context of the Mental Health Act 1983 and Mental Capacity Act 2005.","authors":"Brian Dikoff,&nbsp;Rukyya Hassan,&nbsp;Rohit Shankar,&nbsp;Cornelius Katona,&nbsp;Lucia Chaplin,&nbsp;Andrew Forrester,&nbsp;Piyal Sen","doi":"10.1177/00258024231171316","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00258024231171316","url":null,"abstract":"Providing mental health support to migrants and asylum seekers with uncertain or unresolved immigration status and/or with ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ (NRPF) can pose a distinct challenge for mental health practitioners within both hospital and community settings. As an outcome of the UK’s Hostile Environment policy, some migrants and asylum seekers are precluded from accessing statutory welfare support and services, such as when a person has been refused permission to stay in the UK but has not yet been able to lodge an appeal against this decision or to submit a fresh claim. Yet such support is integral to ensure holistic and effective care planning, particularly for people with serious mental illness. This includes people who are detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA), or treated under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA), who may lack capacity to conduct their immigration case, or challenge their proposed removal or deportation from the UK. When planning and conducting an assessment of migrants and asylum seekers under the MHA, difficulties may arise, including mistrust of professionals due to limited or adverse past experience with authorities, unstable accommodation, lack of knowledge of services, concerns about data sharing, lack of reliable collateral history and lack of access to reliable and consistent interpreters. During the period of detention under the MHA, these same issues are likely to persist, with additional concerns including access to legal advice on immigration and ability to maintain links with government agencies on immigration status. These are important additional factors that are likely to influence the detained individual’s care pathway and influence assessments of their prognosis and risk, which are key tasks for treating mental health professionals. In turn, this influences planning beyond the period of detention under MHA, because instability of postdischarge accommodation, uncertainty around supervising team and concerns around removal may combine to inhibit recovery, increase the likelihood of relapse and contribute to associated risk behaviours. These challenges persist even post-discharge, in the community. Migrants and asylum seekers with NRPF are unable to access welfare benefits, housing assistance and, often, support from social services. Further, those with uncertain immigration status are at risk of enforcement actions such as bail reporting conditions, electronic tagging and indefinite detention as well as forced removal and deportations, all of which are known to have a detrimental impact on mental health and wellbeing. Not all migrants are entitled to Home Office accommodation—this depends mainly on the nature of their immigration case, and on whether and if they are destitute. When they are, accommodation is offered on a no-choice basis across the country. This is known as the UK’s ‘dispersal’ policy. This policy has been in place since 2000 and refers to the practice of spreading asylum appli","PeriodicalId":18484,"journal":{"name":"Medicine, Science and the Law","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10292613","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A methodological comparison of discriminant function analysis and binary logistic regression for estimating sex in forensic research and case-work.","authors":"Deepika Rani,&nbsp;Kewal Krishan,&nbsp;Tanuj Kanchan","doi":"10.1177/00258024221136687","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00258024221136687","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The purpose of this study is to assess the accuracy of two multivariate statistical approaches for estimating sex from human external ear anthropometry, namely, discriminant function analysis (DFA) and binary logistic regression (BLR). A cross-sectional sample of 497 participants (233 males and 264 females) aged 18-35 years (24.42 ± 5.17) was obtained from Himachal Pradesh state of North India. Both the ears of the participants (994) were examined for anthropometric measurements. A total of 12 anthropometric measurements were taken independently on the left and right ear of each individual with the help of a pair of sliding calipers using a standard method. The sex of the population groups was discriminated against using binary logistic regression and discriminant function analysis. The predictive percentage of sex estimation computed from both the models were substantially the same, that is, 76.3% from DFA and 76.2% from BLR, with nearly comparable (∼0.02) sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive values, whereas the values of correct predicted percentage were 0.1% higher in DFA than BLR. Moreover, the other comparison metrics, such as classification error, B-index, and Matthews correlation coefficient indicated that both models performed equally well. The study highlighted that if the assumptions of the statistical methods are met, both methods are equally capable of discriminating the population depending on sex. The study recommends that the discriminant function analysis and binary logistic regression may be used synonymously in forensic research and case-work pertaining to the estimation of sex and various other forensic situations.</p>","PeriodicalId":18484,"journal":{"name":"Medicine, Science and the Law","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9584698","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Manual scavenging and the right to health in India - social and medicolegal perspectives.","authors":"Jai Mala,&nbsp;Roger W Byard,&nbsp;Navpreet Kaur","doi":"10.1177/00258024221126098","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00258024221126098","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Manual scavenging in India refers to the manual removal of human excreta from private dwellings and facilities maintained by municipal authorities. Human waste is collected from public streets and pit latrines, sewers and gutters, and septic tanks with bare hands, brooms or metal scrapers, placed into woven baskets or buckets, and then carried to disposal sites. The work is generally restricted to those occupying the lowest levels of the Indian caste system. Manual scavengers suffer from considerable societal disadvantages in addition to increased morbidity and mortality, associated with drowning in sewage, and to exposure to asphyxiating gases and to a wide variety of local and systemic infectious diseases. Life expectancy is shortened. Despite the passage of various national laws and periodic intervention by the courts, the 'dehumanising' practice of manual scavenging continues. In 2021 the National Human Rights Commission stated that claims that there are no manual scavengers in particular states in India are simply untrue.</p>","PeriodicalId":18484,"journal":{"name":"Medicine, Science and the Law","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9593742","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Double suicide in Japan in the post-war reconstruction period, with reference to contemporary Japan.","authors":"Fumiko Satoh,&nbsp;Junpei Nagato,&nbsp;Wataru Irie,&nbsp;Chizuko Sasaki,&nbsp;Eriko Ochiai,&nbsp;Maho Kondo,&nbsp;Kino Hayashi","doi":"10.1177/00258024221136686","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00258024221136686","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>After Japan's post-war reconstruction, in the early 1950s, cases of double suicide, in which two people (particularly young lovers) leave a suicide note and die together, were a relatively frequent occurrence. During the three-year period between 1954 and 1956, 5466 suicides were recorded in the special wards of Tokyo, including 79 cases of double suicides, accounting for 158 deaths. In these double suicide cases (2.89% of all deaths by suicide), the evidence revealed that 65.8% involved lovers and 29.1% involved married couples. By contrast, contemporary data indicate a large drop in suicide pacts between lovers to 15.9% and an increase between spouses to 48.8%. Conceivably, the relatively high double-suicide rate after post-war reconstruction reflected difficulties for the younger generation in reconciling 'marriage based primarily on love' and the traditional family system, specifically marriage problems and stress caused by rapidly changing post-war values. One notable difference between victims of double suicide in 1954-1956 and the contemporary period is the younger average age of the former. Another important shift was found in the most common causes of death among victims of double suicide: in 1954-1956 these were poisoning by cyanide or hypnotic drugs, compared to carbon monoxide poisoning and hanging in modern times. We discuss similarities and differences concerning double suicides in relation to social and economic conditions in Japan in the 1950s and today.</p>","PeriodicalId":18484,"journal":{"name":"Medicine, Science and the Law","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9593750","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Issues and problems involving acid attacks against male victims in India.","authors":"Navpreet Kaur,&nbsp;Roger W Byard","doi":"10.1177/00258024221134961","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00258024221134961","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Acid attacks involve dousing a victim with a concentrated acidic or caustic fluid. The head and face are most often targeted to maximize the chances of disfigurement, as the intention is usually to cause life-long disability, pain and lack of psychological wellbeing rather than death. In India it is often regarded as a form of gender-based violence aimed predominantly at women, frequently following the rejection of a proposed sexual relationship, however, a significant subset of cases involve males. Four cases are reported to demonstrate the different reasons for such attacks in males including revenge for reporting criminal activity, intra-familial disputes and apparently random episodes. Male acid attack victims may represent an over-looked subgroup that often does not receive adequate compensation or government support to access disability services, despite this being mandated by recent legislation.</p>","PeriodicalId":18484,"journal":{"name":"Medicine, Science and the Law","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9593752","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Prison-based democratic therapeutic communities, medication, and the power to exclude.","authors":"Callum Ross,&nbsp;Ruairi Page","doi":"10.1177/00258024221131451","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00258024221131451","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In 1962, the first custodial Democratic Therapeutic Community (DTC) was established in the English prison estate at HMP Grendon. Today, the Category B male prison estate in England and Wales has three DTCs and three 'TC+' units for prisoners with learning disabilities. There is one DTC in the female estate at HMP Send. The services fall under the remit of the Offender Personality Disorder Pathway, a jointly commissioned initiative that aims to provide a pathway of psychologically informed services for a highly complex and challenging group of prisoners who are likely to have a severe personality disorder. Several of these units make clear that prisoners prescribed psychotropic medicines are specifically excluded from entry and participation in the available therapy. This analysis paper explores whether an evidence-based rationale exists for this practice and examines the impact on those whose care pathways may comprise hospitals and prisons.</p>","PeriodicalId":18484,"journal":{"name":"Medicine, Science and the Law","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9592897","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The criminalisation of miscarriage associated with illicit substance consumption whilst pregnant.","authors":"Josephine Taylor,&nbsp;Sajeel A Shah,&nbsp;Nikolas P Lemos","doi":"10.1177/00258024221140666","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00258024221140666","url":null,"abstract":"The official rights of a foetus continue to be an unending legal and philosophical conversation. Yet newer discussion has emerged on the convictions of mothers for their spontaneous loss of pregnancy. In October 2021, the state of Oklahoma convicted Brittney Poolaw of first-degree manslaughter after the miscarriage of her 15 to 17-week-old foetus and sentenced her to four years in prison. After admitting to methamphetamine and marijuana use during pregnancy, trace quantities of these substances were found in the foetus’ brain and liver on postmortem. However, the report also cited evidence of ‘congenital abnormality ... placental abruption and chorioamnionitis’, all deemed by the medical examiner as ‘conditions contributing’ to miscarriage. As 12–24% of recognised pregnancies result in miscarriage, there is no consistent, investigatory process to consider these as homicides. Currently, a growing adversarial relationship between pregnant women and their foetuses is challenging women’s rights. Between 2006 and 2020, the National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW) identified 1254 cases where women but for their pregnancy, would not have been subject to legal charges. Expanding awareness of prenatal harms questions the expectation for pregnant women to conform to new, scientific discoveries. Can a woman be wrong ‘for drinking coffee or exercising too little, each of which could pose some risk to a fetus’?. There is legal contention on the shifting grounds convicting Poolaw. By ruling miscarriage as manslaughter, the intentional abortion of a foetus could constitute a murder. However, at the time, Oklahoma permitted abortion up to 22 weeks of gestation. Poolaw’s 17-week-old foetus was not viable, and a termination of pregnancy would be legal. Furthermore, criminalising substance abuse whilst pregnant may conversely not protect the health of mother and child as fear of punishment creates a healthcare barrier. In Oklahoma and 24 other states, healthcare providers must report suspected prenatal drug use to police. Yet pregnancy could catalyse a change in mindset, producing a window of opportunity for cessation of recreational drug use that should be harnessed. Some argue incarceration for addiction is the wrong approach for a classified disease, considering the successful approach of Portugal to prioritise the ‘psychosocial vulnerability of high-risk users’ by decriminalising drug use in 2000. Roe v Wade 1973 used to shape a legal framework in the US, meaning states could not outlaw abortion before the point of foetal viability. States could restrict abortion before that point but not inflict ‘undue burden’ on women seeking abortions (Planned Parenthood v Casey 1992). In May 2022, Oklahoma signed the Heartbeat Act – Senate Bill 1503, one of the most restrictive bans across the US. It sidestepped Roe v Wade by using civilian enforcement rather than state officials to criminalise abortion if cardiac activity can be detected. Now the legal basis of Roe v W","PeriodicalId":18484,"journal":{"name":"Medicine, Science and the Law","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10262324/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9906651","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Provision of forensic healthcare services for police custodial settings in England, Wales and Northern Ireland: Current practice and implications for other services?","authors":"Kieran M Kennedy,&nbsp;Grace J Payne-James,&nbsp;J Jason Payne-James,&nbsp;Peter G Green","doi":"10.1177/00258024221136721","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00258024221136721","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Provision of forensic healthcare services may affect patient safety and criminal justice outcomes. We reviewed models of delivery for services in police custody in terms of cost, types of healthcare professionals and their minimum required experience, training and qualification. Relevant information was requested under the Freedom of Information Act from all police services in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Additional information was sought from the London Ambulance Service and the Metropolitan Police Service. A third of respondent police services refused to provide the requested information and only a small minority answered the questions in their entirety. Many police services cited excessive cost and commercial interests as reasons for not providing the information. A marked variation in models of forensic healthcare provision across police services which responded was identified. London Ambulance Service call-outs to Metropolitan Police Service custody suites for those arrested varied from 0% to 3.8%. There is substantial inconsistency and variability of information on forensic healthcare services in police custody. A standardised national dataset of all aspects of police custodial healthcare (irrespective of by whom such services are provided) should be established. We advise that the Association of Police & Crime Commissioners, College of Policing the National Police Chiefs' Council and NHS England Health and Justice engage on these matters and work with the Faculty of Forensic & Legal Medicine, the United Kingdom Association of Forensic Nurses and Paramedics, and the College of Paramedics to restart the transfer of all police custodial healthcare services to the National Health Service.</p>","PeriodicalId":18484,"journal":{"name":"Medicine, Science and the Law","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9584699","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"An overview of suicides related to motor vehicles.","authors":"Siobhan O'Donovan,&nbsp;Corinna van den Heuvel,&nbsp;Matthew Baldock,&nbsp;Roger W Byard","doi":"10.1177/00258024221122187","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00258024221122187","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Although vehicles may be used in a wide variety of suicides, this has not been a focus in the forensic literature. Thus, an analysis of coronial autopsy reports at Forensic Science SA, Adelaide, South Australia over a 16-year period from January 2005 to December 2020 was undertaken to provide an overview of cases in which it was considered that a vehicle had been integral to the successful completion of a suicide. De-identified details were collected from all cases in which a vehicle had facilitated or been used as a method of suicide. A number of different types of vehicle-related suicide methods were identified, including cases where vehicles had been used as secure places for suicide or where the vehicle had been used to cause significant blunt force trauma or to enter a lethal environment such as water. Specific examples were taken from the following categories: (1) inhalation of gas, (2) drug toxicity, (3) hanging or ligature strangulation, (4) self-immolation, (5) drowning, (6) vehicle collision, (7) driving off a cliff, (8) jumping or lying in front of a vehicle and (9) the use of more than one method (i.e. complex). This report is not intended to provide an epidemiological analysis of car-related suicides. Instead, the details of selected cases have been used to illustrate the spectrum of methods that may be used in vehicle-assisted suicides.</p>","PeriodicalId":18484,"journal":{"name":"Medicine, Science and the Law","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9194461","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}