Fatal fall from a height: is it possible to apply artificial intelligence techniques for height estimation?

Fall from a height trauma is characterized by a multiplicity of injuries, related to multiple factors. The height of the fall is the factor that most influences the kinetic energy of the body and appears to be one of the factors that most affects the extent of injury. The purpose of this work is to evaluate, through machine learning algorithms, whether the autopsy injury pattern can be useful in estimating fall height.

Two Decades of Fatal Workplace Accidents in Milan and Monza, Italy: Trends, Work Sectors, and Causes From Autoptic Data.

Background: Work-related fatalities represent an important global public health threat, accounting for over 300,000 deaths annually. Despite preventive strategies, fatalities persist, necessitating comprehensive investigations. Autoptic investigations, when ordered, offer comprehensive data on fatal accidents, in particular with detailed information about the type of accident, lesions, and type of work, enabling a thorough analysis of various factors contributing to workplace deaths.

Intentional child and adolescent homicides in Milan (Italy): A 30-year interdisciplinary study.

This study aims to discuss the forensic and criminological implications of child homicides in the territory of Milan, Italy. The authors present a retrospective study on all the cases of child and adolescent homicides, that were observed at the Institute of Legal Medicine of Milan (Italy) in the last 30 years (from January 1991 to December 2020). A total of 46 child homicides were collected, focusing on the sociological features, by highlighting peculiar cases, risk factors, potential changing social trends, and comparing our cases with the current literature.

Applications of artificial intelligence in forensic sciences: Current potential benefits, limitations and perspectives.

In recent years, new studies based on artificial intelligence (AI) have been conducted in the forensic field, posing new challenges and demonstrating the advantages and disadvantages of using AI methodologies to solve forensic well-known problems. Specifically, AI technology has tried to overcome the human subjective bias limitations of the traditional approach of the forensic sciences, which include sex prediction and age estimation from morphometric measurements in forensic anthropology or evaluating the third molar stage of development in forensic odontology. Likewise, AI has been studied as an assisting tool in forensic pathology for a quick and easy identification of the taxonomy of diatoms.

Environment, Environmental Crimes, Environmental Forensic Medicine, Environmental Risk Management and Environmental Criminology.

Forensic medicine has always held the human environment, either seen as a source for pathological agents or the background of judicial events, in great consideration. The concept of the environment has evolved through time, expanding itself to include all the physical and virtual sub-spaces in which we exist. We can nowadays talk of technoenvironmental reality; virtual spaces exploded because of the COVID-19 pandemic making us come to terms with the fact that those are the places where we work, where we socialize and, even, where we meet our doctors and can be cured.

Forensic considerations on the two major civilian terrorist events occurred in Milan: A retrospective autopsy-based study.

Explosion-related deaths are a disregarded topic of forensic sciences, despite the pivotal role of the forensic pathologist in such investigations. In fact, very few scientific articles have been published up to now, even if there is a considerable increase of terrorist attacks worldwide due to the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs). In this paper, the authors show a retrospective autopsy-based study on the two major civilian terrorist events which occurred in Milan (Italy).

Explosion-related deaths: An overview on forensic evaluation and implications.

Purpose: Explosion-related deaths are uncommon events which require expertise and confidence so that an appropriate death investigation can be performed. The present study aims to provide a detailed forensic analysis of the issues and implications arising in the event of an explosion.

Methods: A retrospective review of casualty data was conducted on electronic literature databases.

Prediction model for autopsy diagnosis of driver and front passenger in fatal road traffic collisions.

Road traffic collisions (RTC) analysis is almost a daily activity in many autopsy room. Especially when analyzing an RTC with multiple occupants in the car, it can be necessary to distinguish driver from front seat passenger in order to provide the judicial authority with elements useful to understand and to prove who was driving, considering the criminal and civil responsabilities that may derive from it. Despite this, it is beyond doubt that there is enormous difficulty in providing such information.

The pathological diagnosis of the height of fatal falls: A mathematical approach.

The authors analyzed the injury pattern of 385 victims of fall from a height which underwent a complete autopsy, with the objective to investigate whether it was possible to construct a mathematical model to be used for height of the fall diagnosis. The cases were selected and enrolled according to a balanced stratification of the heights of the fall, allowing a subdivision into seven classes consisting of 55 subjects each: 6m or less, 9m, 12m, 15m, 18m, 21m, 24m or more (maximum 36m). For each case anthropologic and necroscopic data was collected and analyzed to obtain a standardized description of the injury pattern was obtained, dividing the body into 4 major anatomical areas (Head, Thorax, Abdomen, Skeleton), each of them further divided in 5 major organs.

The Adult Male Rape Victim: Forensic Description of a Series of 57 Cases.

A retrospective analysis on 57 adult male victims of sexual violence has been performed. Age, nationality and anamnesis of the victims, location of the assault, type of violence, number and identity of the assailants, presence of physical injuries, lapse of time between the assault and the request of medical assistance, and toxicological and semen detection tests were analyzed. Victims were mostly in the 31- to 40-year age group.

Alleged malpractice in anesthesiology: analysis of a series of private insurance claims.

Background: Medical malpractice is currently a crucial topic and anesthesia is a key specialty for the improvement of patient safety. However, death and permanent impairment due to anesthesia still occur and studies of insurance analysis data are increasing. We investigated the main features of a major Italian insurance broker's archive in order to identify possible recurrent pitfalls in this critical field of medicine.

How reliable are parenchymal tissues for the evaluation of carbon monoxide poisoning? A pilot study.

Dealing with burnt bodies, the forensic pathologist must first of all answer the question whether the victim was alive at the moment of the fire. This study aims at clarifying whether some human solid tissues may be reliably used for the forensic diagnosis of Co poisoning on burnt bodies providing no collectable blood during the autopsy. From 34 selected cases, both cardiac blood and parenchymal samples were collected to perform CO-oxymeter, spectrophotometry, and gas chromatography tests: blood CO estimations (blood COHb% and blood[CO]) and parenchymal[CO] values have been compared with special focus on R values.

The medical malpractice in Milan-Italy. A retrospective survey on 14 years of judicial autopsies.

The medical malpractice is a rising and central topic for the forensic pathologist and forensic autopsies are a mandatory step in the judicial evaluation of the suspected medical malpractice. Reliable national and international registers about the medical malpractice are still missing and nowadays the necroscopic archives are therefore one of the best sources of data about such a complex phenomenon. We analyzed the archive of the Institute of Forensic Medicine of the Milan University from 1996 to 2009 and selected 317 lethal cases of suspected medical malpractice.

Defensive medicine and outcomes for medical malpractice liability.

Defensive medicine is a significant force driving the high costs of healthcare systems and has a substantial influence on physicians' behavior because they primarily concern about malpractice liability and not patient's health protection. This attitude disagrees with deontological duties and could impair physicians' ability of judgment and clinical reasoning. Reducing defensive medicine also could mean improving the quality in healthcare systems and eliminating unnecessary costs.

Lethal pulmonary thromboembolism: an autopsy-based study on a rare but legally relevant event.

Context: Pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) is the severe end stage of many different diseases producing prolonged patient immobilization or a hypercoagulative state. Lethal PTE is also one of the most frequent topics for suspected medical malpractice, especially when dealing with patients originally affected by non-critical illnesses and suddenly killed by a non-prevented embolic event. The crucial forensic question about a lethal PTE is the following one: was this lethal PTE an unpreventable complication or was it a consequence of real medical malpractice?

Materials And Methods: The authors analyzed the 1999-2009 autopsy archive of the Institute of Forensic Medicine of Milan University and selected all the cases where PTE was the cause of death.

Forensic grading of myocarditis: an experimental contribution to the distinction between lethal myocarditis and incidental myocarditis.

Myocarditis can be either the cause of the death of a person or just an incidental finding during the autopsy and the following histological examinations. To establish whether a single myocarditis is a lethal or just an incidental pathology a very careful grading is always mandatory. The aim of the present work is thus to test the hypothesis about the reliability of an evidence-based distinction between the lethal myocarditis and the incidental myocarditis.