FORENSIC

MEDICINE
College of Law
Aquinas University of Legazpi

What is Forensic
Medicine?
That branch of medicine dealing with
the application of medical knowledge to
the purposes of law.
Deals with medical questions in legal
context, such as determination of the
time and cause of death.

Branches of Law where legal

medicine
may be applied:

CIVIL LAW
It is a mass of precepts that
determines and regulates the relation
of assistance, authority and obedience
between members of a family and
those that exist among members of a
society for the protection of private
interest.

Branches of Law where legal

medicine may be applied:

CRIMINAL LAW
It is that branch or division of
law which defines crimes,
threats of their nature and
provides for their punishment.

Branches of Law where legal

medicine may be applied:

REMEDIAL LAW
It is that branch or division of
law, which deals with the rules
concerning pleadings,
practices and procedures in all
courts of the Philippines.

Branches of Law where legal

medicine may be applied:
SPECIAL LAWS
Dangerous Drug Act
Youth and Child Welfare Code
Insurance Law
Code of Sanitation
Labor Code
Employees Compensation Law

Forensic Medicine
EVIDENCES
- are the means, sanctioned by the
Rules of Court, of ascertaining in
judicial proceedings the truth
respecting a matter of fact. If the
means employed to prove a fact is
medical in nature, then it becomes a
medical evidence.

TYPES OF MEDICAL EVIDENCE:

Autoptic or Real Evidence

This is evidence made known or
addressed to the senses of the court.
Limitations to the Presentation of
Autoptic Evidence:
- Indecency and Impropriety
- Repulsive Objects

TYPES OF MEDICAL EVIDENCE:

Experimental Evidence

A medical witness may be

allowed by court to confirm an
allegation or as a corroborated
proof to an opinion
previously stated.

TYPES OF MEDICAL EVIDENCE:

Documentary Evidence
1. Medical and Physical Examination
2. Necropsy (Autopsy)
3. Laboratory Examination
4. Exhumation
5. Birth or Death Certification
6. Deposition
7. Medical Expert Opinion

TYPES OF MEDICAL EVIDENCE:

Physical Evidence
- Corpus Delicti
- Associative
- Tracing

TYPES OF MEDICAL EVIDENCE:

Testimonial Evidence
Physician may be commanded to
appear before a court to give his
testimony. He is obliged to answer
questions propounded by counsel
except when these information are
considered privileged
communication.

TYPES OF MEDICAL EVIDENCE:

Testimonial Evidence
As a rule, hearsay information is not
admissible in court as these are data
that are handed from one person to
another, therefore, veracity is
difficult to ascertain. An exception
will be a dying declaration.

TYPES OF MEDICAL
EVIDENCE:
DYING DECLARATION is considered by the court
when the following requisites:
The declarant was conscious of his
impending death
The declarant was in full possession of his
mental faculties when he made the
declaration.
The declaration must be with regards to his
impending death
That such evidence is presented in court in
a case of homicide, parricide or murder.

DECEPTION DETECTION
1.

2.
3.

4.

5.

Recording of Psycho-physiological
Responses
Use of Word Association Test
Use of the Psychological Stress
Evaluator
Use of Drugs to inhibit the inhibitor
(sodium thiopental)
Narcoananlysis and Narcosynthesis

DECEPTION DETECTION
6. Intoxication with alcohol
7. Hypnosis
8. Observation
9. Scientific Interrogation
10. Confession

MEDICO-LEGAL ASPECTS OF
IDENTIFICATION

Importance of Identification of Persons

1. For prosecution in criminal offense
2. For settlement of estate,
Retirement, insurance and other social
benefits
3. Relief of anxiety of relatives
4. Other legal transactions that may
need identification

Rules in Personal
Identification
Law of Multiplicity of Evidence
states that the greater the number of
points of similarities and dissimilarities
of two persons compared, the greater is
the probability for the conclusion to be
correct.
2. The value of the different points of
identification varies in formulation of
conclusion.
1.

Rules in Personal Identification

3. The longer the interval between the death
and the examination of the remains for
purpose of identification, the greater is a
need for experts to establish identity.
4.There is no rigid rule observed in the
procedure of identification of persons.
5. Methods employed include comparison
and exclusion.

ORDINARY METHOD OF
IDENTIFICATION
1. Characteristics which may be easily
changed
a. Growth of hair, beard or mustache
b. Clothing
c. Frequent place of visit
d. Grade of profession
e. Body ornamentations

ORDINARY METHOD OF
IDENTIFICATION
2. Characteristics that may not be easily
changed
a. Mental memory
b. Speech and Gait
c. Mannerism
d. Hands and feet
e. Complexion
f. Change in the eyes and facies
g. Occupational marks

Identification of the
Skeleton

Determine the sex, age, race and

even occupation if it is the right
kind of bone studied.
To determine if male or female, the
bones of the pelvis, skull and
sternum (breastbone) in this
order are the most helpful.

VERTEX OF THE SKULL

CLAVICALE (COLLAR BONE)
SUPRA STERNAL NOTCH
STERNUM
OLECRANON PROCESS
OF THE ULNA
COCCYX

PUBIC SYMPHYSIS

PELVIS
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A MALE AND FEMALE P
ELVIS.doc

STERNUM
SKULL
difference between male and
female skull.docx

Methods of Approximating the

Height of a Person
1. Measure the distance between the tips of
the middle fingers of both hands with the
arms extended laterally and it will
approximate the height.
2. Eight times the length of the head is
approximately equal to the height of the
person.
3. Two times the length from the vertex of the
skull to the pubic symphysis is the height.

Methods of Approximating the

Height of a Person
4. The distance between the supra-sternal notch and
the pubic symphysis is about one third of the height.
5. The distance between the skull and the coccyx is
about 44% of the height.
6. The length of the forearm measured from the tip of
the olecranon process to the tip of the middle finger
is 5/19 of the height.
7. Two times the length of one arm plus 12 inches
from the clavicle and 1.5 inches from the sternum is
the approximate height.

Scientific Methods of
Identification
I.

Fingerprinting -is considered

to be to most valuable
method of identification for
the following reasons:
a.

b.

There are no two identical

fingerprints (1:64B)
Fingerprints are not
changeable

Scientific Methods of
Identification

Dactylography- is the art and study of

recording fingerprints as a means of
identification.
Dactyloscopy. - is the art of identification by
comparison of fingerprints. It is the study and
utilization of fingerprints
Poroscopy- is the study of the pores found on
the papillary or friction ridges of the skin for
purpose of identification.

Advantages of Using
Fingerprints
1. Not much training is necessary for a person
to take, classify and compare
fingerprints.
2. No expensive instrument is required in the
operations.
3. The fingerprint itself is easy to classify.
4. Actual print for comparative purposes are
always available and suspected errors can
easily be checked.
(fingerprints can be produced by plain
method or by rolled method)

Kinds of Fingerprint
Impression
1. Real- impression of the finger
bulbs with the use of printing ink
on the surface of the paper.
2. Chance- fingerprints which are
impressed by mere chance without
any intention to produce it.
3. Visible- impression made by
chance and is visible without
previous treatment.

Kinds of Fingerprint
Impression
4. Plastic- impression made by chance
by pressing the fingertips on melted
paraffin, plaster tape etc.
5. Latent- prints which are not visible
after impression but made visible by
the addition of some substances.

Dental Identification
The possibility of two persons to have
the same dentition is quite remote
The enamel of the teeth is the hardest
substance of the human body
An adult has 32 teeth and each
tooth has five surfaces
The more recent the ante- mortem
records of the person to be identified,
the more
Reliable is the comparative or
exclusionary mode of identification that
can be done.

Handwriting
Bibliotics- is the science of handwriting
analysis. It is the study of documents
and writing materials to determine its
genuineness or authorship.
Graphology- is the study of
handwriting for the purpose of
determining the writers personality,
character and aptitude.

Determination of Sex
1. Social Test
2. Genital Test
3. Gonadal Test
4. Chromosomal Test

Identification of Blood and

Blood Stains
For disputed parentage
Circumstantial or corroborative
evidence against or in favor of the
perpetrators of a crime.
Determination of the cause of death
Determination of the direction of
escape of the victim or the assailant

Identification of Blood and

Blood Stains
Determination of the approximate
time of the crime was committed.
Determination of the place of
commission of the crime.
Determination of the presence of
certain diseases.

BLOOD TYPING
A+A
A+O
A+B
A + AB
B+B
B+O
B + AB
O + AB

= A and O
= A and O
= A, B, AB, O
= A, AB, B
= B and O
= B and O
= B, AB, A
= A and B

How to do it?
AA + AA

AA

AA

AA

AA

How to do it?
Aa + Ab

AA
A

Aa

aA

ab

How to do it?
Aa + Bb

AB
A

Ab

aB

ab

EXCERCISE COMBINATION
type B and AB
type B and B
type AB and O
type A and B

DNA Determination

DNA testing refers to the process of examining an

individual's DNA markers for the purpose of
genetic human identification and for determining
the relationship between two people.
The Genetic Profiles DNA Profiling method is an
extremely accurate genetic testing method. It can
absolutely determine if the man is not the
biological father and reliably exclude him. DNA
Profiling can establish that the alleged father is the
child's biological father with a probability of
paternity of 99% or higher.

DNA Determination

Genetic Profiles follows a strict chain-of-custody

procedure which allows for court/legal admissibility.
It typically takes about 3 -10 working days to
complete the testing. In cases where the mother's
sample is not included or when an abnormal/difficult
sample is used, testing may require more time.
A buccal swab sample is just as accurate as a blood
sample. The advantages of using buccal swab
collections are that they are non-invasive, painless,
quick and easy.

MEDICO-LEGAL ASPECTS OF DEATH

Importance:
1. The civil personality of a natural
person is extinguished by death.
2. The property of a person is
transmitted to his heirs at the time of
death.
3. The death of a partner is one of the
causes of dissolution of partnership
agreement.

MEDICO-LEGAL ASPECTS OF
DEATH

4. The death of either the principal or

agent is mod of extinguishments of
agency.
5. The criminal liability of a person is
extinguished by death.
6. The civil case for claims, which
does not survive, is dismisses upon
death of the defendant.

KINDS OF DEATH:
1.
2.
3.

Somatic or Clinical Death

Molecular Death
Apparent Death or State
of Suspended

SIGNS OF DEATH
1.

2.
3.
4.

Cessation of Heart action and

circulation
a. Palpation of pulse, auscultation of
heart sound, electrocardiogram
b. Examination of peripheral circulation
Cessation of Respiration
Changes in the Skin
Changes in and about the Eye

NORMAL LIVING EYES

CLOUDED EYES

SIGNS OF DEATH
5. Cooling of the Body (Algor Mortis)
Factors Delaying Cooling
Acute Pyrexial diseases
Obesity of person
Clothing
Warm surrounding
Factors Accelerating Cooling
Extreme age
Long standing or lingering illness
Unclothed body
Conditions allowing the access of air

SIGNS OF DEATH
6. Changes in the Muscle
Stage of primary flaccidity
(post mortem muscular irritability)
Stage of post-mortem rigidity
(Cadaveric rigidity or Rigor Mortis)
Stage of secondary flaccidity
(decay of muscles)

Conditions Simulating Rigor

Mortis
a. Heat stiffening- if the body is exposed to
temperature above 75 deg C, it will coagulate the
muscle proteins and cause the muscle to be rigid.
The body assumes the pugilistic attitude.
b. Cold Stiffening- is due to the solidification of fat
when the body is exposed to freezing
temperature.
c. Cadaveric Spasm or Instantaneous Rigor- is due
to extreme nervous tension, exhaustion, and
injury to the nervous system or injury to the
chest.

7. Changes in the blood

Blood may remain fluid inside the

blood vessels after death for 6 to 8
hours.
Post- mortem Lividity- the stoppage
of the heart action and loss of tome
of blood vessels cause the blood to
be under the influence of gravity.

Duration of Death
1. Rigor Mortis
- sets in 2-3 hours after death
- fully develops after 12 hours
- last until 18-36 hours.
2. Post- Mortem Lividity
- develops 3-6 hours after death.
3. Onset of Decompositions
- early as 24-48 hours manifested by
presence of watery, foul smelling froth
coming out of the nostrils and mouth.

Rigor Mortis

Post Mortem Lividity

Duration of
Death
4. Stage of Decomposition
5. Entomology of the Cadaver
6. Stage of Digestion of Food- it
normally takes 3-4 hours for the
stomach to evacuate its contents
after a meal; this is determined by
the size of the meal, kind of meal
and personal variation.

Presumption of Death
1. A person on board a vessel lost during a sea
voyage or an airplane, which is missing, who
has not been heard of for four years since
the loss of the vessel or airplane.
2. A person in the armed forces who has taken
part in war, and has been missing for four
years.
3. A person who has been in danger of death
under other circumstances and his existence
has not been known for four years

Presumption of Survivorship
1.

2.

3.

If both were under the age of fifteen

years, the older is presumed to have
survived.
If both were above age 60, the
younger is presumed to have survived.
If one is under 15 and the other is
above 60, the former is presumed to
have survived.

Presumption of Death
4. If both be over 15 and under 60,
and sexes be different, the male is
presumed to have survived,; if the
sexes are the same, then the older
has preference.
5. If one be under 15 or over 60, and
the other between those ages, the
latter is presumed to have survived

MEDICO-LEGAL
CLASSIFICATION OF DEATH
1. Natural Death
2. Violent Death
a. Accidental death
b. Negligent death
c. Infanticide death
d. Parricidal death
e. Homicidal and Murder

MEDICO-LEGAL
CLASSIFICATION OF DEATH

3. SPECIAL DEATH
a. Judicial death
b. Euthanasia
c. Suicide
d. Starvation

METHODS OF DISPOSING
DEAD BODY
1. Embalming
2. Burial or inhumation
Death certificate may be issued by
attending physician, local health
officer, municipal mayor, municipal
secretary, any councilor
3. Cremation
Use of the body for scientific purpose