THE POSTMORTEM EXAMINATION IN CASES OF SUSPECTED HOMICIDE
Authors: M HELPERN
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (1946)

Article1 April 1946THE POSTMORTEM EXAMINATION IN CASES OF SUSPECTED HOMICIDEMILTON HELPERN, M.D.MILTON HELPERN, M.D.Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-24-4-666 SectionsAboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail ExcerptThe postmortem examination in cases of suspected homicide represents one of the most important applications of medicolegal science to the needs of the community. Its proper performance is of paramount concern to those agencies of government responsible for law enforcement and the effective administration of justice. In view of the desire of the medical and legal professions, increasingly evident in recent years, to improve the standards and quality of medicolegal practice throughout the country, it was considered timely and appropriate again to review the subject of the postmortem examination in cases of homicide, and to point out what is expected...Bibliography1. HELPERN M: Postmortem examination in homicides, Am. Jr. Med. Jurisp., 1938, i, 165. Google Scholar2. WEINMANN GH: Compendium of the Statute Law of Coroners and Medical Examiners in the United States, National Research Counc. Bull. No. 83, Washington, 1931. Google Scholar3. Laws of New York 1915, ch. 284. Google Scholar4. New York City Charter 1901, sections 1570 and 1571, as added by L. 1915, ch. 284, section 2, relate to the Office of Chief Medical Examiner: "Section 1570: Organization of Office, Officers and Employees.—There shall be established the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York. The head of the Office shall be called 'Chief Medical Examiner.' He shall be appointed by the Mayor from the Classified Service and be a doctor of medicine, and a skilled pathologist and microscopist. "The Mayor may remove such officer upon stating in writing his reasons therefor, to be filed in the office of the Municipal Civil Service Commission and served upon such officer, and allowing him an opportunity of making a public explanation. The Chief Medical Examiner may appoint and remove such deputies, assistant medical examiners, scientific experts, officers and employees as may be provided for pursuant to law. Such deputy medical examiners and assistant medical examiners, as may be appointed, shall possess qualifications similar to those required in the appointment of the Chief Medical Examiner. The office shall be kept open every day in the year, including Sundays and holidays, with a clerk in constant attendance at all times duringthe day and night." "Section 1571: Violent and Suspicious Deaths; Procedure.—When, in the City of New York, any person shall die from criminal violence, or by a casualty, or by suicide, or suddenly when in apparent health, or when unattended by a physician, or in prison, or in any suspicious or unusual manner, the officer in charge of the station house in the police precinct in which such person died shall immediately notify the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of the known facts concerning the time, place, manner and circumstances of such death. Immediately upon receipt of such notification the chief medical examiner, or a deputy or assistant medical examiner, shall go to the dead body and take charge of the same. Such examiner shall fully investigate the essential facts concerning the circumstances of the death, taking the names and addresses of as many witnesses thereto as it may be practicable to obtain and, before leaving the premises, shall reduce all such facts to writing and file the same in his office. The police officer so detailed shall, in the absence of the next of kin of deceased person, take possession of all property of value found on such person, make an exact inventory thereof in his report, and deliver such property to the police department, which shall surrender the same to the person entitled to its custody or possession. Such examiner shall take possession of any portable objects which, in his opinion, may be useful in establishing the cause of death, and deliver them to the police department." "Section 1571 a: Autopsies; Findings.—If the cause of such death shall be established beyond a reasonable doubt, the medical examiner in charge shall so report to his office. If, however, in the opinion of such medical examiner an autopsy is necessary, the same shall be performed by a medical examiner. A detailed description of the findings written during the progress of such autopsy and the conclusions drawn therefrom shall thereupon be filed in his office." "Section 1571 b: Report of Deaths, Removal of Bodies.—It shall be the duty of any citizen who may become aware of the death of any such person to report such death forthwith to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and to a police officer, who shall forthwith notify the officer in charge of the station house in the police precinct in which such person died. Any person who shall wilfully neglect or refuse to report such death or who, without written order from the medical examiner shall wilfully touch, remove, or disturb the body of any such person, or wilfully touch, remove, or disturb the clothing, or any article upon or near such body, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor." "Section 1571 c: Records.—It shall be the duty of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to keep full and complete records. Such records shall be kept in the office, properly indexed, stating the name, if known, of every such person, the place where the body was found and the date of death. To the record of each case shall be attached the original report of the medical examiner and the detailed findings of the autopsy, if any. The office shall promptly deliver to the appropriate district attorney copies of all records relating to every death as to which there is, in the judgment of the medical examiner in charge, any indication of criminality. All other records shall be open to public inspection as provided in section fifteen hundred and forty-five. The appropriate district attorney and the police commissioner of the city may require from such office such further records, and such daily information, as they may deem necessary." "Section 1571 d: Oaths and Affidavits.—The Chief Medical Examiner, and all deputy or assistant medical examiners, may administer oaths and take affidavits, proofs and examination as to any matter within the jurisdiction of the office." See also revised New York City Charter 1938, ch. 39, sections 874 to 879. L. New Jersey 1927, ch. 106 and L. New York 1936, ch. 879 pertain to the Office of Chief Medical Examiner in Essex County and Nassau County, respectively; also L. Maryland 1939, ch. 369. Google Scholar5. Annual Statistical Reports of the Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York. Google Scholar6. Helpern M Photographs of the undisturbed dead body at the scene in the first two of the following examples were reproduced in op. cit. supra, no. 1, p. 167. Google Scholar7. GONZALESVANCEHELPERN TAMM For the photograph of the undisturbed dead body at the scene in this case, see : Legal medicine and toxicology, 1940, D. Appleton-Century Co., New York, p. 277. Google Scholar8. GLAISTER JFor a more detailed description and discussion of the signs of death, see id. p. 49 to 65. : Medical jurisprudence and toxicology, ed. 7, 1942, Williams and Wilkins Co., Baltimore. HERZOG, A. W.: Medical jurisprudence, 1931, The Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis. SMITH, SYDNEY: Forensic Medicine, ed. 4, 1934, J. & A. Churchill, Ltd., London. SMITH, SYDNEY and COOK, W. G. H.: Taylor's principles and practice of medical jurisprudence, ed. 9, 1934, J. & A. Churchill, Ltd., London, vol. 1, p. 195 to 263. STRASSMANN, GEORGE: F. Strassmanns Lehrbuch der Gerichtlichen Medizin, ed. 2, Stuttgart, Ferdinand Enke, 1931. Google Scholar9. GONZALESVANCEHELPERN TAMMFor a discussion of trauma and its complications, and for examples of medical examiners' findings in homicidal, suicidal and accidental deaths, the reader is referred to , op. cit. supra., no. 7, p. 88 to 370. MARTLAND, H. S.: Medical examiners' findings in deaths from shooting, stabbing, cutting and asphyxia, Symposium on The Medicolegal Necropsy, 1934, The Williams and Wilkins Co., Baltimore, p. 66 to 160. MORITZ, A. R.: The pathology of trauma, 1942, Lea & Febiger, Philadelphia. SMITH, SYDNEY, op. cit. supra., no. 8. GETTLER, A. O.: Toxicology in the medicolegal necropsy, Symposium on The Medicolegal Necropsy, 1934, The Williams and Wilkins Co., Baltimore, p. 50 to 66. Google Scholar10. HELPERN M: Unusual fatal stab wounds of head and neck, Am. Jr. Surg., 1934, xxvi, 53. CrossrefGoogle Scholar11. GETTLER AO: A method for the determination of death by drowning, Jr. Am. Med. Assoc., 1921, lxxvii, 1650. Google Scholar12. GONZALESVANCEHELPERN TAMM: op. cit. supra., no. 7, p. 359 to 370. POLLAK, O. J.: Semen and seminal stains, Arch. Path., 1943, xxxv, 140-196. Google Scholar13. GETTLERTIBER AOA: Quantitative determination of ethyl alcohol in human tissues, Arch. Path., 1927, iii, 75; Alcoholic content of the human brain, Arch Path., 1927, iii, 218. Google Scholar14. VANCE BM: The medicolegal examination of hairs, New England Jr. Med., 1938, ccxviii, 22, 914-918. CrossrefGoogle Scholar15. WIENER AS: Blood groups and blood transfusion, ed. 3, 1943, Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Ill. WIENER, A. S.: The Rh blood types and some of their applications, Am. Jr. Clin. Path., 1945, xv, 106. WIENER, A. S.: Rh factors in clinical medicine, Jr. Lab. and Clin. Med., 1945, xxx, 957. Google Scholar16. Assistant District Attorney Louis A. Pagnucco of the New York County District Attorney's office supervised the investigation of this case and I am indebted to him for the interesting details. Google Scholar17. State of New Jersey vs. Frank Pulsinelli, Warren County Court of Oyer and Terminer, December Term, 1940. Google Scholar This content is PDF only. To continue reading please click on the PDF icon. Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: New York, N. Y.*Received for publication January 18, 1946.†Deputy Chief Medical Examiner, Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, City of New York.In April 1943, the Annals of Internal Medicine published a series of articles dealing with subjects of joint interest to the medical and legal professions, as part of a symposium which was published in various medical and legal journals. This was prepared under the editorial supervision of Hubert Winston Smith, M.D., now Professor of Legal Medicine at the University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill. This article is one of a continuation of that series. An index of the entire series may be obtained from Dr. H. W. Smith at cost (20 cents). 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