Importance of the study of legal medicine : a lecture introductory to the course on medical jurisprudence at the New York Medical College / by James Wynne.

  • Wynne, James, 1814-1871.
Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Importance of the study of legal medicine : a lecture introductory to the course on medical jurisprudence at the New York Medical College / by James Wynne. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    councils is the sladl-phyaicus, or state physician, to a portion of whose duties allusion bas already been made. He is, in fact, the special agent to whom is confided the investigation of all medico-legal ques- tions, and is always liable to the call of the legal tribunal having cog- nizance over these subjects. Should the case involve any complications, or be shadowed with doubt, the report of the examining physician, together with all other depositions, is forwarded to the Provincial Council, which, if unable to solve the question, refers it to the still higher authority of the Su- preme Council at Berlin. The forensic duties of the physicus are under the direction of the supreme judicial courts and of the police authorities of the district, or a local magistrate. With the assistant forensic surgeon, the physi- cus, in the event of a sudden or violent death, is required to repair, without loss of time, to the spot where the body is to be examined. The judicial inspection is required to be made according to special in- structions issued to that end. In cases of poisoning or adulteration of food, the physicus shall very carefully and scrupulously investigate the case, with the assistance of a qualified apothecary; a conjoint report shall be signed by these three officers, viz., the physicus, the surgeon and apothecary; not only [to verify the truth thereof, but also to divide the responsibility of the consequences that may thence follow.* In Austria a code of regulations is published, by which all medico- judiciary investigations are to be conducted throughout the empire, and reports to be drawu up. Public inspections are also made on the dead bodies of those found iu suspicious circumstances, and which, not being recognized at first, are carried to the dead-room in the general hospital. Due notice is given to the students at what hour such inspections are to take place, and they have thus an opportunity of seeing those regulations put into practice, which they will one day be called to fulfill! The Criminal Code of France (Art. 44) provides, that in case of a violent death, or of one to the cause of which suspicion may attach, the Procurer shall call to his aid one or two officiers de saute, who shall make to him a report on the condition of the body and the cause of death. The Police[Ordinance of 1822 provides, that whenever a person * British and Foreign Medico-Cbirurgical Review, vol. 18, p. 370. t Quarterly Journal of Foreign Medicine and Surgery, vol. 1, p. 40.