[Body's integumentary restoration after autopsy: legislative, technical and ethical issues].

In France, families of the deceased raised concerns as regards to the conditions of restoration of body. If scientists hospital autopsies are organized by the Bioethics Law of August 6, 2004, the forensic autopsies were so far not provided with such a legal framework. The legislator has proposed the creation of a new chapter in the Code of Criminal Procedure institutionalizing forensic activities.

Mechanisms of hyoid bone fracture after modelling: evaluation of anthropological criteria defining two relevant models.

Several studies have attempted to describe the morphology of the hyoid bone, while other authors have focused on discovering the role of this bone in the occurrence of fractures. Hyoid fractures are known to be dependent on the force applied against the bone, or on the location at which the force is applied. We wished to assess the value of defining one or more models of the hyoid bone by analyzing variations in the size and angle of the various component parts of the bone relative to the sex and morphology of an individual (height and weight) in a sample of 72 bones obtained during forensic autopsy at our institution.

Medical liabilities of the French physician passenger during a commercial air flight.

Nearly two billion passengers travel each year on commercial air flights. More elderly people and/or people with a pre-existing condition are taking to the air and with the anticipated growth of air travel, in-flight illnesses and injuries are expected to increase as well. Even if in-flight medical events and deaths are still uncommon, physician passengers are occasionally called upon to render assistance.