• Journal of forensic and investigative science
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.5-10
• /
• 2006

In the era of Joseon Dynasty there was a national system of postmortem investigation with literatures of postmortem inspection. The author reviewed the postmortem findings in the literature(Shinjumoowonrok) to compare with recent knowledges of forensic medicine. Characteristics of old system of postmortem investigation was three instance investigation system and was carried out only with a postmortem inspection without autopsy. The postmortem findings described in the old literature were about various kinds of death, such as cases of suicide and homicide and natural and unnatural death. Most of postmortem findings in the Shinjumoowonrok were accurate and reasonable in the aspect of recent knowledges of forensic medicine.

• Journal of Medicine and Life Science
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.74-77
• /
• 2022

We present a fatal case of cerebral arterial thrombosis after corona virus disease 19 (COVID-19) vaccination with ChAdOx1 nCOV-19. The deceased was a 63-year-old woman with no relevant medical history. She presented symptoms of nausea, fatigue, and headache immediately after vaccination. Ten days after vaccination, she suddenly started vomiting and developed high blood pressure. The patient eventually died 23 days after vaccination. Autopsy findings showed that the cerebral arteries and internal carotid arteries were fully enlarged and were compacted with thrombi. The brain stem showed ischemic necrosis, and extravasation from this necrotic lesion led to focal subarachnoid hemorrhage around the brain stem where large blood clots still remained. No aneurysms or atherosclerotic changes were found in these arteries. We note the following three facts. Firstly, all symptoms occurred immediately after vaccination; secondly, the main cause of death was consistent with known side effects of the vaccine; and lastly, the mechanism of thrombus formation in this case goes beyond the general category of thrombogenesis known so far. While the authors know that this case does not fall into known categories of vaccine side effects, we presenting this case to demonstrate that a comprehensive review of various possibilities related to vaccine side effects is needed to establish a COVID-19 defense system.

• Journal of forensic and investigative science
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.5-24
• /
• 2008

The necessity for the investigation of death occurred in military services has no differences to the death of civilians. But the death of military service members under the Universal Conscription System in Korea has special considerations because of hard accessibility by the bereaved family and closed environment of the army. The analysis of the death occurred during military service was carried out and the advanced death investigation system to prevent the death was proposed to prevent the declination of fighting spirit and efficiency and also to restore the solid support by the people. The deaths in the period 1995~2006 were 330 persons in 1995, 359 persons in 1996 and were decreased to 135 persons in 2006. The death caused by safety accidents including vehicle accident, drowning, fall were 56% and by military crimes including suicide, arms, homicide were 44%. The numbers of suicides were 108 persons in 1995 and were decreased to 79 persons in 2006. The numbers of suicides were decreased constantly, but the ratio of suicide to death were increased, so the suicide prevention is more important. The autopsy ratio was increased to 51.5% in 2005 and was much higher compared to the ratio for civilians. The main reasons of complaints by the bereaved family were for regaining reputation, death in harness and reinvestigation of death. The proposals for the advanced death investigation system were as follows. The unnatural deaths including the obvious accidental deaths and homicides have to be defined by the rules. The human resources to perform the autopsy can be supported by the forensic pathologists from medical school. The special training and quality assurance programs are needed for the crime scene investigator. To regain the impaired reputation from the suicide and to support the bereaved family has to be discussed by the government.

• The Korean Journal of Legal Medicine
• /
• v.42 no.4
• /
• pp.172-175
• /
• 2018

Aortic dissection is an uncommon, life-threatening medical emergency that is associated with a high mortality rate, and death from aortic dissection is mainly related to secondary complications, namely cardiac tamponade, severe aortic regurgitation, acute myocardial infarction, and abdominal organ vessel obstruction. Hence, prompt and accurate diagnosis followed by proper treatment is important for patient survival. Herein, we present a rare case of sudden death after aortic dissection with concomitant acute myocardial infarction and cardiac tamponade.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.54 no.3
• /
• pp.218-219
• /
• 2021

The identification of human remains can be performed visually through families and next-of-kin, but it is not advisable to rely only on visual recognition; instead, it is preferable to conduct a forensic comparison of antemortem and postmortem data for primary identifiers (fingerprints, DNA, and dental data). A dental autopsy is particularly valuable in the identification process of skeletonized, carbonized, saponified, and fragmented human remains. The principal challenge in the identification process is the search and collection of antemortem data. To this end, all dental information held on a missing person can represent a precious source of individualizing information that families should share with the police or investigating agencies after reporting a disappearance.

• Analytical Science and Technology
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.103-106
• /
• 2006

A 35-year-old Perubian who suffered from grand mal seizures died in the aircraft on his way from the United States to Hongkong via Incheon international airport of Korea. While performing the autopsy, 115 packs made with double layer of transparent film and black plastic bag containing cocaine were found in the ileum and large intestine. Among of them, 3 packs were ruptured. To determine the concentration of cocaine and its metabolites, blood, urine, bile, liver, spleen, heart, kidney, brain and gastric contents were taken and toxicological analysis was performed. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) following liquid-phase extraction using chloroform:isopropanol (=9:1) and derivatization with bis(trimethylsilyl)-trifluoroacetamide (contains 1% trimethylchlorosilane) was performed. High levels of cocaine, benzoylecgonine (BE) and ecgonine methylester (EME) were found in the postmortem blood (0.96, 3.09 and $5.59{\mu}g/mL$) and urine (32.85, 145.35 and $53.17{\mu}g/mL$), respectively. Cocaine and its metabolites were also detected in all other biological specimen.

• Journal of forensic and investigative science
• /
• v.1 no.2
• /
• pp.44-56
• /
• 2006

The reform necessity of medicolegal death investigation system is continuously issued. The problems from the current death investigation system are discussed, specially on the professionalism of the involved personnel such as policemen, doctors, prosecutors. Death investigation exists not only to prosecute the criminals but also primarily to protect the general public's health, safety, and welfare. The reform proposals of death investigation system are followed as below. Statutes require that the prosecutor be notified of certain deaths. All deaths that may reasonably result from anything other than natural disease should be investigated. A death certificate is a legal document which authenticate a death, therefore it is issued by the doctor. The postmortem examination must be rearranged on the university base and performed by the qualified doctors who are trained at least in pathology. The police officer specified in death investigation and forensic identification should be encouraged to keep doing their special work in many ways.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
• /
• v.54 no.5
• /
• pp.341-347
• /
• 2010

The majority of forensic autopsies in Korea are performed by the National Institute of Scientific Investigation (NISI), and the NISI has carried out about 4,000 cases annually. Total 4,578 autopsies were performed by NISI in 2009, among them 2,918 cases (64%) were carried out at main office of NISI in Seoul, which is in charge of Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi province. In this study we investigated pattern of drugs & poisons in autopsy cases for recent three years in Korea. Postmortem specimens (bloods, gastric contents, etc) from autopsy cases by main office of NISI during 2007~2009 were screened for drugs & poisons. Using laboratory information management system of NISI (iLIMS), the kinds of drugs & poisons and the frequency were investigated. As the results, 1,705 cases were negative to drugs & poisons, it occupied 58% of total 2,918 autopsy cases in 2009. During three years (2007~2009), the kinds of drugs & poisons detected in specimens were 206, 185 and 203, respectively, and top three drugs were atropine (anticholinergic), chlorpheniramine (antihistamine) and lidocaine (local anaesthetic/anti-arrythmic). These drugs were supposed to be used not so much for suicidal or homicidal purpose as for therapeutic purpose in hospital. Meanwhile cyanide showed the highest frequency of poisons during 2007~2009, and the frequency was 32 cases in 2009. In case of pesticides, poisoning by paraquat (herbicide, 17 cases) showed the highest frequency, and methomyl (insecticide, 9 cases) and glyphosate (herbicide, 7 cases) were followed. Finally we selected 62 drugs as target drugs for systematic toxicological analysis (STA) for Korea. Poisons such as pesticides, natural toxins, volatile compounds should be included for STA in further study.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
• /
• v.57 no.4
• /
• pp.289-292
• /
• 2013

A total of 2,080 forensic autopsies in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi province were performed by the National Forensic Service (NFS) in 2010. After analysing blood samples collected at autopsies by GC-MS and LC-MS/MS, the types and prevalence of drugs and poisons in blood were investigated using our laboratory information management system. Among 2,080 cases, 1,061 cases (51%) were positive for drugs and poisons. Surprisingly, antidepressants were identified in 137 cases which comprised 13% of the positive cases. Twelve different kinds of antidepressants were determined: Amitriptyline, fluoxetine, nortriptyline, trazodone, imipramine, mirtazapine, citalopram, venlafaxin, clomipramine, paroxetine, sertraline and bupropion. Amitriptyline was the most frequently detected antidepressant and was identified in 39 cases. Moreover, amitriptyline, fluoxetine, and nortriptyline were included in the list of the 20 most commonly encountered drugs or poisons in the analysis of blood collected at autopsies from 2007 to 2009, indicating the prevalence of their use. In this study, the 137 antidepressant-related deaths were classified by the mode of death to predict the prevalence of these drugs. As a result, those deaths were divided into four groups based on the cause and mode of death: 56 cases of suicide with fatal concentrations of antidepressant drugs in blood, 6 homicidal cases directly or indirectly related to antidepressants, 59 natural deaths with antidepressants detected in blood and 16 deaths caused by fire or other accidents with antidepressants detected in blood. Because incidents involving antidepressants have been increasing, especially in suicides or homicides, it is necessary for the health authorities and law enforcement administrations to cooperate and share the statistical data for curbing the abuse of antidepressants. This report is expected to provide the reference data related with antidepressants for the investigation of the deaths.

• Fire Science and Engineering
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.94-96
• /
• 2020

In November 2013, a case of sustained combustion of a female body was encountered in a Korean farming village. The body was almost completely incinerated from the neck to the knees, and other parts of the body, such as the head, arms, lower legs, and feet, were slightly damaged. The most likely external ignition source was the flame from a matchstick. The elderly woman was found incinerated on the floor of the living room, while other objects in the house were largely undamaged except for having a brown oily or greasy coating. Flammable substances were not detected from the woman's intact pieces of clothing and socks, and her muscular tissues did not contain toxic chemicals. The concentration of carboxyhemoglobin in her peripheral blood was 11% and that of ethyl alcohol in her aqueous humor was below 0.010%. An autopsy failed to determine the exact cause of death because of excessive charring.