Medical death certification by forensic physicians in the Netherlands: Validity and interdoctorvariation.

The aim of the study was to assess interdoctorvariation and validity in death certification by forensic physicians using 19 written scenarios. The scenarios described typical cases from forensic-medical practice. Physicians were asked to determine the manner of death (natural/unnatural) and to provide an ICD-10 code for the cause of death.

Sudden death victims <45 years: Agreement between cause of death established by the forensic physician and autopsy results.

Purpose: The goal of this study was to ascertain accordance between cause of death established by the forensic physician and autopsy results in young sudden death victims in the Netherlands.

Methods: Sudden death victims aged 1-45 years examined by forensic physicians operating in the participating regions which also underwent an autopsy between January 2006 and December 2011 were included (n = 70). Cause of death established by the forensic physician based on the external medicolegal examination was compared with autopsy findings using the ICD10-classification.

Improving usual care after sudden death in the young with focus on inherited cardiac diseases (the CAREFUL study): a community-based intervention study.

Aims: Inherited cardiac diseases play an important role in sudden death (SD) in the young. Autopsy and cardiogenetic evaluation of relatives of young SD victims identifies relatives at risk. We studied the usual care after SD in the young aimed at identifying inherited cardiac disease, and assessed the efficacy of two interventions to improve this usual care.

Mental health and health-care use of detainees in police custody.

Background: In many countries, forensic physicians function as primary care providers for detainees in police custody. Their task is comparable to the tasks of general practitioners. Nevertheless, problems presented by both patient populations may differ.

Detainees in Amsterdam, a target population of the Public Mental Health System?

The Forensic Medical Service of the Public Health Service offers health care to detainees in police cells in Amsterdam. This study describes the registered mental health, addiction and social problems and compares them to the self-reported problems among a sample of detainees. Registers of the Forensic Medical Service are related to information from registers of police detention episodes.

Screening for mental illness among persons in Amsterdam police custody.

Objective: Research on the mental health of police detainees is scarce. This study aimed to identify the proportion of persons detained by the Police Service Amsterdam-Amstelland who screened positive for a serious mental condition.

Methods: A survey conducted in 2009 among 264 randomly selected detainees assessed demographic characteristics and general medical and mental health and included use of the Brief Jail Mental Health Screen (BJMHS) (N=248).

Prevalence and medical risks of body packing in the Amsterdam area.

Aim: Body packing is a way to deliver packets of drugs across international borders by ingestion. The aim of the study was to provide an estimate of the medical risks of body packing, describe predictors for hospital referral in detained body packers and provide an estimate for the prevalence of body packing in the Amsterdam area.

Methods: From May 2007 to December 2008, we studied medical records of body packers immediately detained after arrival at Amsterdam Schiphol airport, hospital records of both detained body packers and self-referrers at two emergency departments of hospitals in Amsterdam and records kept by forensic physicians in charge of post-mortem examinations of all unnatural deaths in the area (years 2005-2009).

Enhancing the visibility of injuries with narrow-banded beams of light within the visible light spectrum.

The use of narrow-banded visible light sources in improving the visibility of injuries has been hardly investigated, and studies examining the extent of this improvement are lacking. In this study, narrow-banded beams of light within the visible light spectrum were used to explore their ability in improving the visibility of external injuries. The beams of light were induced by four crime-lites(®) providing narrow-banded beams of light between 400 and 550 nm.

Health-care issues and health-care use among detainees in police custody.

Epidemiological research on the physical health status of police detainees is scarce. The present study fills this gap by first studying the somatic reasons for consultation (n = 4396) and related prescriptions (n = 4912) as assessed by the forensic medical service during police detainment. Secondly, a health interview survey was conducted among randomly selected police detainees (n = 264) to collect information regarding their recent disease history and use of health care.

Health care seeking among detained undocumented migrants: a cross-sectional study.

Background: As in many European countries, access to care is decreased for undocumented migrants in the Netherlands due to legislation. Studies on the health of undocumented migrants in Europe are scarce and focus on care-seeking migrants. Not much is known on those who do not seek care.

Post-mortem toxicological urine screening in cause of death determination.

This study evaluated standard toxicology screening by forensic physicians during external post-mortem examination. Collected urine samples of decedents were screened on-site for the presence of 10 commonly used drugs by means of a rapid multidrug test. Urine samples of 53% of the cases appeared to be positive for one or more compounds.

[Cocaine use and sudden death: excited delirium syndrome].

Three patients, men aged 30, 33 and 32 years respectively, died in police custody in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. According to autopsy reports, all patients died from excited delirium syndrome induced by cocaine use. Excited delirium is a state of mental and physiological hyperarousal commonly associated with the use of cocaine.