Medico-Legal JournalPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2025-12-09DOI: 10.1177/00258172251392357
Michael Biggs
{"title":"History of and evidence for puberty suppression as intervention for children experiencing gender dysphoria.","authors":"Michael Biggs","doi":"10.1177/00258172251392357","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00258172251392357","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":35529,"journal":{"name":"Medico-Legal Journal","volume":" ","pages":"7-16"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12966359/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145715913","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Medico-Legal JournalPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2026-02-25DOI: 10.1177/00258172251406784
Diana Brahams, Eleanor Jane Turner
{"title":"Editorial for part one, 2026 collegiality, silence and the duty to speak up.","authors":"Diana Brahams, Eleanor Jane Turner","doi":"10.1177/00258172251406784","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00258172251406784","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":35529,"journal":{"name":"Medico-Legal Journal","volume":" ","pages":"3-6"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147285375","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Medico-Legal JournalPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2025-11-18DOI: 10.1177/00258172251366047
Vedantha Desikan Govindarajan, Amit Bhaskar
{"title":"Artificial chimerism and its impact on the forensic investigation of sexual offences.","authors":"Vedantha Desikan Govindarajan, Amit Bhaskar","doi":"10.1177/00258172251366047","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00258172251366047","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Genetic chimerism is crucial when assessing the effectiveness of medical treatments and surgical procedures. Factors that cause chimerism include genetic mutations, cell division processes, radiation exposure and cell fusion. Natural chimerism results from natural factors, while artificial chimerism results from medical procedures. It may produce deceptive DNA evidence, potentially causing erroneous accusations or exoneration of a guilty individual. This study aims to understand this phenomenon, measuring techniques and the standards followed in the interpretation of artificially induced chimerism following a systematic review of the literature related to chimerism and forensic evidencing techniques. This study comprehensively explores and consolidates existing studies on chimerism and its implications for sexual offences and investigates the influence of chimerism on forensic inquiries, particularly emphasising the treatments and procedures that may produce artificial chimerism. We reviewed multiple databases, encompassing peer-reviewed journals, grey literature and various online resources. DNA evidence plays a vital role in linking perpetrators to sexual assault cases but may produce misleading outcomes in instances involving a chimera. This concern is particularly significant where medical histories involve transplant or transfusion procedures. Though rare the potential impact on forensic investigation of sexual offences must be considered.</p>","PeriodicalId":35529,"journal":{"name":"Medico-Legal Journal","volume":" ","pages":"43-46"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145551143","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Medico-Legal JournalPub Date : 2025-12-01Epub Date: 2025-03-28DOI: 10.1177/00258172251315552
Dubravko Habek
{"title":"Fatal ruptured unrecognised aortic aneurysm.","authors":"Dubravko Habek","doi":"10.1177/00258172251315552","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00258172251315552","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Thirty years ago, a 24-year-old teacher attended hospital, suffering from persistent stomach pains, more pronounced around the navel, along with nausea; she vomited several times with several diarrhoeal stools. When admitted to the emergency room, she had normal vital normal laboratory findings, and the basic X-ray image of the abdomen did not indicate intra-abdominal perforation and ileus. On palpation, her abdomen was continuously diffusely painful, and the elastic wall had no defence musculature; there was no back pain. Given the clinical picture of a \"pseudoacute abdomen\", the patient was examined by an internist, surgeon and gynaecologist. Three hours after admission, during examination, the patient suffered a fatal cardiorespiratory arrest which did not respond to resuscitation procedures which were applied immediately and for one hour. At autopsy, an infraceliac complete asymmetrical ruptured abdominal aortal aneurysm of the posterolateral wall, 9 cm in length, was found with massive coagulum and fresh blood filling the entire retroperitoneum. Pathohistologically, a typical lesion of abdominal aortal aneurysm dissection into media with intimal fragmentation, intramural haematoma and mild atherosclerotic plaques was proven. The cause of sudden death was declared to be unknown, spontaneous, non-traumatic ruptured abdominal aortal aneurysm with massive retroperitoneal bleeding and ireversible haemorrhagic shock.</p>","PeriodicalId":35529,"journal":{"name":"Medico-Legal Journal","volume":" ","pages":"224-226"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143732110","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Medico-Legal JournalPub Date : 2025-12-01Epub Date: 2025-10-30DOI: 10.1177/00258172251369305
John Francis Mayberry, Affifa Farrukh
{"title":"The medical examiner system is not fit for purpose.","authors":"John Francis Mayberry, Affifa Farrukh","doi":"10.1177/00258172251369305","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00258172251369305","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This analysis is based on the published outcomes of the Shipman and Mid-Staffordshire Inquiries, Parliamentary discussions recorded in Hansard and the resulting Acts. The Analysis assesses whether the present structure of the ME programme can deliver the roles which various Inquiries called for so as to improve patient safety in England and Wales.</p>","PeriodicalId":35529,"journal":{"name":"Medico-Legal Journal","volume":" ","pages":"212-215"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145402312","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Medico-Legal JournalPub Date : 2025-12-01Epub Date: 2025-11-14DOI: 10.1177/00258172251381021
Diana Brahams
{"title":"The Medico-Legal Society's new meeting place is in 'Legal' London.","authors":"Diana Brahams","doi":"10.1177/00258172251381021","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00258172251381021","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":35529,"journal":{"name":"Medico-Legal Journal","volume":" ","pages":"172"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145514284","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Medico-Legal JournalPub Date : 2025-12-01Epub Date: 2025-01-17DOI: 10.1177/00258172241275291
Giulia Ricchezze, Gianmarco di Palma, Massimo Lancia
{"title":"Practical considerations in the use of deceased bodies for biomedical research and education.","authors":"Giulia Ricchezze, Gianmarco di Palma, Massimo Lancia","doi":"10.1177/00258172241275291","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00258172241275291","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":35529,"journal":{"name":"Medico-Legal Journal","volume":" ","pages":"248-249"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143013205","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Medico-Legal JournalPub Date : 2025-12-01Epub Date: 2025-08-09DOI: 10.1177/00258172251325093
Gokul G, Mahalakshmi N Babu, Sudhir K Gupta, Chittaranjan Behera
{"title":"Lethal kite threads: Near-decapitation of a motorcyclist.","authors":"Gokul G, Mahalakshmi N Babu, Sudhir K Gupta, Chittaranjan Behera","doi":"10.1177/00258172251325093","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00258172251325093","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Kite flying is a popular recreation in many countries. However, the use of synthetic manja string has led to increased injuries, particularly among motorcyclists and pedestrians. We present the case of a 17-year-old male motorcyclist who sustained a deep cut-throat injury from a manja kite string. Despite emergency surgical intervention, which included vascular reconstruction and tracheostomy, the patient remained unresponsive and died two days later. Autopsy findings revealed extensive damage to the carotid arteries, internal jugular vein, thyroid gland and trachea, with cerebral infarction due to shock and haemorrhage as the cause of death. In motorcycle accidents, the high relative momentum of the rider increases the severity of injuries which occur due to the lack of enforcement of regulatory bans on manja in India. Medico-legal challenges arise when classifying these wounds as either blunt or sharp force trauma, complicating forensic investigations. Strict enforcement of regulations, public awareness campaigns, and improved disposal practices are essential to prevent further injuries and fatalities.</p>","PeriodicalId":35529,"journal":{"name":"Medico-Legal Journal","volume":" ","pages":"236-239"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144805013","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Medico-Legal JournalPub Date : 2025-12-01Epub Date: 2025-08-09DOI: 10.1177/00258172251328963
Ravi H Phulware, Akash Dhiman, Yashpal Sindhu, Ravi P Meshram, Salu Chandran, Arvind Kumar
{"title":"Postmortem diagnosis of human rabies viral encephalitis: Insights into pathogenesis through the vigilant lens of the forensic pathologist!","authors":"Ravi H Phulware, Akash Dhiman, Yashpal Sindhu, Ravi P Meshram, Salu Chandran, Arvind Kumar","doi":"10.1177/00258172251328963","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00258172251328963","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Rabies, a lethal zoonotic viral disease, continues to pose a significant public health threat worldwide. Caused by lyssaviruses, primarily transmitted through the bite of infected animals, rabies manifests as an acute encephalitis with a nearly universal fatality rate once clinical symptoms appear. The hallmark of rabies infection is its unique neurotropism, targeting the central nervous system and inducing characteristic neurological signs and symptoms. Early diagnosis and prompt administration of post-exposure prophylaxis remain crucial for preventing disease progression and mitigating the risk of transmission. Despite the availability of effective vaccines and immunoglobulins, rabies remains endemic in many regions, particularly in low-resource settings where access to healthcare services is limited. This case provides a comprehensive overview of rabies epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical manifestations, diagnostic modalities, and current prevention and control strategies. Additionally, it highlights the ongoing challenges in rabies elimination and the importance of interdisciplinary approaches to combat this deadly disease.</p>","PeriodicalId":35529,"journal":{"name":"Medico-Legal Journal","volume":" ","pages":"244-247"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144805014","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Medico-Legal JournalPub Date : 2025-12-01Epub Date: 2025-10-30DOI: 10.1177/00258172251381022
Eleanor Jane Turner
{"title":"Editorial for 2025 part 4: The Abortion Act 1967: Medico-legal perspectives on decriminalisation.","authors":"Eleanor Jane Turner","doi":"10.1177/00258172251381022","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00258172251381022","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":35529,"journal":{"name":"Medico-Legal Journal","volume":" ","pages":"173-174"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145402236","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}