Difficulties involved in the formulation of forensic opinions in cases of severe injuries to the facial and cerebral parts of the skull due to punching.

Aim: Comparison of injuries to the facial and cerebral parts of the skull causing death and grievous bodily harm, resulting solely from punches to the facial area of the skull. Assessment and confrontation of both groups in terms of the final criminal-legal classification of the perpetrator's acts. Review of reasons for court judgements with a focus on the subjective elements of the prohibited act.

Medicolegal assessment in cases of zygomatico-maxillo-orbital fractures and isolated orbital floor fractures in criminal cases.

Aim Of The Study: The aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of effects equivalent to moderate and severe impairment to health within the meaning of the Penal Code in patients with zygomatico-maxillo-orbital fractures and isolated orbital floor fractures. In addition, the study addressed the possibilities of applying the presented results in the preparation of medicolegal opinions in cases provided for in Articles 158 and 160 of the PC with respect to evaluating the plausibility of inflicting such bodily injuries and causing moderate and severe health impairment.

Material And Methods: The study covered a total of 124 patients operated on in the then Clinic of Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery, Medical Academy of Lodz, in 1996-2001, because of fractures involving the inferior orbital wall including zygomatico-maxillo-orbital fractures (95 cases) and isolated orbital floor fractures (29 cases).

Fatal intoxication with new synthetic cannabinoids AMB-FUBINACA and EMB-FUBINACA.

Synthetic cannabinoids are currently the largest group of new psychoactive substances. Those that have been subjected to legal control are replaced by newer uncontrolled substances, which causes constant and dynamic changes to the drug market. Some of the most recent synthetic cannabinoids that have appeared on the "legal highs" market are AMB-FUBINACA and EMB-FUBINACA.

[Tragedy in the Valley Jaworowa: incredible coincidence or perfect murder?].

The paper presents the case of an unexplained and the most mysterious death in the history of Polish Tatra tourism. It concerns three people of different ages and occurred on August 3, 1925 in the Valley of Jaworowa. Kazimierz Kasznica, his son Wacław Kasznica and a newly discovered mountaineer Ryszard Wasserberger died suddenly for unknown reasons in 15 minutes during a mountain trek.

Medical immobilization as impairment of bodily organ functions within the meaning of the Polish Penal Code - consultative problems and a proposal for a method of judicial and medical evaluation.

Aim Of The Study: The aim of the paper is analysis of the impact of immobilization treatment of "less severe" motor organ injuries affecting soft tissues on the position of medical experts and court decisions in crimes against health. We also analysed the attitude of courts to expert opinions and present a proposal for a model of judicial and medical opinion in such cases.

Material And Methods: In the study, we analysed judgments of the criminal divisions of common courts, in which the use of medical immobilization of a given part of the body or lack thereof could have an impact on the degree of health impairment determined by the medical expert.

Incorrect declaration of death by a physician - a case report.

Incorrect declaration of death is not a frequent situation in medico-legal reports, and such cases are usually of great interest. In this study the authors present a case of improper declaration of death by a physician, despite the absence of early definitive signs of death and without a full medical examination. However, the investigation of the case was dropped, and the conduct of the physician was not assessed by experts.

Iatrogenic Burns of the Neckline in a Patient with Tetraparesis During Tracheotomy.

The paper presents a case of an atypical iatrogenic complication after tracheotomy analyzed on the basis of the case dossier materials submitted to the authors by the court of justice to prepare a forensic medical opinion concerning the correctness of the medical procedure. A 37-year-old woman was brought by the ambulance service to the hospital with acute respiratory failure due to post-tracheostomy tracheal stenosis. Tracheotomy was performed on an emergency basis.

Death due to obstruction of the upper airways caused by edema of the laryngeal mucosa in the course of hereditary angioedema.

A rare case of death of a young man due to airway obstruction in the course of angioedema (Quincke's edema). Type I hereditary angioedema due to C1 esterase inhibitor deficiency had been diagnosed in the man while he was alive. The information concerning the man's health state was given in the Public Prosecutor's decision ordering medico legal autopsy, which was extremely helpful in recognizing the cause of death.

[The analysis of the causes of deaths involving fetuses, neonates and infants in the autopsy material from the Chair and Department of Forensic Medicine, Medical University of Łódź, in the years 2000-2010].

The aim of this study was the comparison of causes of deaths of fetuses, neonates and infants based on the autopsy reports taken from the Chair and Department of Forensic Medicine, Medical University of Łódź, in the years 2000-2010, and especially establishing what the most common causes of death occurred in this age group. We evaluated 94 autopsy reports of such children from this period. It turned out that the most frequent causes of death were pneumonia in neonates delivered at term and sepsis (usually due to hospital infection) in premature neonates.

Assessment of bone age based on morphometric study of the upper end of the humerus.

Assessment of changes in the spongy bone structure of the upper end of the humerus is one of the common methods of age estimation. This method was devised many years ago (1894) and has never been verified in an objective numerical testing. We projected an objective morphometric method assessment of the upper end of the humerus.

[Cases of myocarditis and their effect on the mechanism of death].

In this study, we describe two cases with autopsy findings of interstitial myocarditis. They show that supplementing the autopsy with histopathological examination, even when the cause of death is thought to be clear and obvious, is extremely important as it can contribute valuable information to the case, including the circumstances of death. In the first case, we discussed a tram accident in which its driver was killed.

[Opinionating errors in forensic medicine].

The paper presents selected evident opinionating errors committed by experts in the field of forensic medicine who issued medico-legal opinions in criminal cases, aiming at determining causes of death. The authors analyze the causes of such errors and possibilities of avoiding them, as well as the impact of the said errors on the course of criminal proceedings and the legal position of the suspects or victims. The report emphasizes the potential effect of these opinions on the fate of individuals who have been found suspected or guilty based on such opinions should they be accepted by the court without verification by summoning another expert.

[Fatal airgun shot].

The authors present a case of an airgun shot. The airgun Magnum Sport 4.5 mm uses wasp-waist Diabolo style pellets.

[Postmortem bruising].

While examining body injuries, a very important issue is to ascertain if they were made ante or postmortem. The majority of authors are of the opinion that the presence of bruises is a proof of an antemortem origin of injuries. Nevertheless, the present authors encountered more than a dozen of cases of postmortem origin of bruises, which had occurred as much as several hours after death.

[Part II. The use of entomological methods in determination of the time of death -- case presentations].

The paper presents two cases, in which medico-legal determination of the time of death was supplemented by entomological studies. In Case 1, the possible time of death was determined by a combination of the method based on the sum of effective temperatures with assessment of species composition of insects found on the body. In Case 2, the method based on sum of effective temperatures was combined with an analysis of the isomegalen diagram.

[Part I. The use of entomological methods in determination of the time of death -- case presentations].

The report presents two cases, in which medico-legal assessment of the time of death was supplemented by entomological studies. In Case 1, where the corpse was completely mummified, insects found on the body allowed for determining that death had occurred 1-1.5 years prior to discovery of the victim, thus making it possible to determine the upper limit of the relevant time range, what could not have been accomplished based solely on medico-legal examinations.

[Ex post opinion on work disability in a payment decision case].

This paper describes a case of ex post opinion in the judgement of work disability for purposes of benefit qualification, in which numerous, frequently contradictory disability certifications by KIZ, WKIZ, ZUS physician-certifiers and court medical opinions were issued. Despite the simplicity of her case, a woman underwent 17 examinations in connection with the opinions and certifications. The court, instead of verifying the opinions and clearing up all doubts through questioning legal experts, submitted subsequent opinions as evidence, and ZUS broke the law by issuing work certification in spite of a legally binding court ruling.

[Oxidative stress parameter analysis in rat brains during long-term ethanol intoxication].

The aim of this research was to define the influence of long-term ethanol intoxication on the changes in end products of lipid peroxidation, reacting with thiobarbituric acid (TBA-reactive products) and free SH-groups concentrations in rat brains. The experiment was conducted on male Lewis rats. The experimental groups received a 1-molar ethanol solution and the control group received tap water.

[Changes of the concentration of lipid peroxidation products and thiol groups in rat brains with long-term intoxication with methanol].

The aim of this paper was to define the influence of long-term methanol intoxication on the changes of end products of lipid peroxidation, reacting with thiobarbituric acid (TBA-reactive products) and free SH-group concentration in rat brains. The experiment was conducted on male Lewis rats. The experimental groups received a 1-molar methanol solution and the control group received tap water.

[Selected alcohols on the pro- and anti-oxidative processes in rat erythrocytes].

In forensic medicine practice poisonings are rather frequent, and among them, those caused by fatal "substitution" of ethyl alcohol. One of the most frequently encountered "substitutes" for ethyl alcohol is methanol. The purpose of our research was to determine the concentration of malonic dialdehyde as the expression of lipid peroxidation and antioxidant enzyme activity after dosed chronic ethyl and methyl alcohol intoxication.

[Effect of ethylene glycol on antioxidative enzymes and lipid peroxidation activity in erythrocytes].

Investigations were aimed at demonstrating changes in the activity of enzymes forming an antioxidative barrier and oxidative stress parameters in erythrocytes of rats which were administrated ethylene glycol during 4 weeks. Superoxide dismutase activity (CuZn-SOD) was evaluated by the Misra and Fridovich method, catalase (EC1.11.

[Iatrogenic injury of the trachea--a case report].

The case of iatrogenic trachea injury during endotracheal intubation is reported in this article. The case concerns a 36 years old woman, with diagnosed DIC resulting from postpartum complications. Injury of the brachiocephalic trunk and the tracheoarterial fistula were found during autopsy.