Forensic Medicine

Forensic medicine, also called legal medicine, is the application of medical knowledge to the administration of justice. It deals with the medical aspects of legal cases including injuries, sudden and unnatural deaths, sexual offences, poisoning and the examination of both living persons and dead bodies.

A key component of forensic medicine is the medico-legal autopsy, conducted to establish the cause, manner and time of death, to recover trace evidence, and to correlate injuries with the alleged weapon or circumstances of the incident.

Medico-Legal Autopsy

A medico-legal autopsy is a systematic external and internal examination of a body carried out under legal authority to determine the cause and manner of death, estimate the time since death and collect evidence relevant to the investigation.

Examination of Injuries

Injuries are classified as abrasions, contusions, lacerations, incised wounds, stab wounds and firearm injuries. Their characteristics help the medical expert opine on the weapon used, the direction of force and whether the injury was ante-mortem or post-mortem.