• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.211-218
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• 2014

Purpose: This research was designed to investigate the effects of forensic education and autopsy attitude of nursing students. Methods: Data on autopsy attitude were determined and collected by means of a self-reporting questionnaire including 14 questions on perception of a need for an autopsy and 11 questions on resistance to autopsy, the respondents being 846 nursing students. The collected data were analyzed by means of an independent t-test with one-way ANOVA in an SPSS WIn 18.0 program. Results: The perception of a need for an autopsy was 4.06 on average and resistance to autopsy was 2.64 on average. The nursing students taking a forensic course showed a relatively higher level of perception of the need for an autopsy (t=-5.63, p <.001) than those not attending such a course (t=2.93, p <.001). Perception of the need for an autopsy and resistance to autopsy show a negative correlation (r=-.382, p=.003). Conclusion: A forensic medicine course raises the level of perception of the need for an autopsy by nursing students and reduces the level of resistance to autopsy.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.101-106
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• 2017

Purpose: This study examined the patterns of drugs, poisons, and chemicals detected in autopsy samples performed in the Seoul Institute and other regional forensic offices of the National Forensic Service (NFS) between 2014 and 2016. Methods: The investigation carried out using the laboratory information management system. Forensic toxicological identification and quantitation were performed in autopsy samples, including heart blood, peripheral blood, liver, kidney, vitreous humor and etc. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) were used to analyze the drugs and poisons. Results: Forensic autopsies were performed on 9,674 cases in this period. Based on the autopsy reports, 699 cases (7.2%) were considered as unnatural deaths caused by fatal intoxication. The number of male deaths was higher than that of female deaths, with the age of 50-59 being the most common age group. Conclusion: Drugs comprised the largest number of deaths due to poison, followed by alcohol, agrochemicals, drug with alcohol, carbon monoxide, and cyanide, in that order. Zolpidem was the most frequently used drug in all drug-related intoxication cases.

• The Korean Journal of Legal Medicine
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.153-158
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• 2018

Staphylococcus aureus is an important cause of human infections, and it is also a commensal that colonizes the nose, axillae, vagina, throat, or skin surfaces. S. aureus has increasingly been recognized as a cause of severe invasive illness, and individuals colonized with this pathogen are subsequently at increased risk of its infections. S. aureus infection is a major cause of skin, soft tissue, respiratory, bone, joint, and endovascular disorders, and staphylococcal bacteremia may cause abscess, endocarditis, pneumonia, metastatic infection, foreign body infection, or sepsis. The authors describe a case of a fisherman who died of sepsis on a fishing boat during sailing out for fish. The autopsy shows paravertebral abscess, pus in the pericardial sac, infective endocarditis with vegetation on the aortic valve cusp, myocarditis, pneumonia and nephritis with bacterial colonization, and also liver cirrhosis and multiple gastric ulcerations.

• The Korean Journal of Legal Medicine
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.164-167
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• 2018

Aspergillus infection is the most common cause of death due to fungi in immunocompromised hosts. Aspergillus tracheobronchitis is an uncommon but severe form of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis, which is limited entirely or mainly to the tracheobronchial tree and can often be life-threatening. We report a case of a 54-year-old man who died from Aspergillus tracheobronchitis without an underlying disease. Autopsy revealed an extensive yellowish plaque adhering to the trachea and bronchial wall. The microscopic examination of the trachea and bronchus revealed septate branching hyphae of Aspergillus.

• Journal of forensic and investigative science
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.30-49
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• 2007

An autopsy is a postmortem assessment or examination of a body to determine cause of death or manner of death. The author had surveyed Personnel's perception toward conducting an autopsy in general hospital with autopsy at YeungNam University Medical Center, Daegu, Korea from April, to May, 2007. The total number of 286 personnel consisted of 121 men(42.3%), 165 women(57.7%). There were 57 doctors(19.9%), 71 nurses(24.8%), 83 medical technicians (29.0%), 58 office workers(20.3%), and 17 others(5.9%). 61.4% of doctors had an experience of education for autopsy more than 2 times, but nurses(1.4%), medical technicians(15.7%), office workers(1.7%), and others(5.9%) had little experience. Response of conducting an autopsy for sudden death of respondent or respondent's family member was 59.6% of doctors, 22.5% of nurses, 39.8% of medical technicians, 41.4% of office workers, and 35.3% of others. Response of conducting an autopsy for sudden death of respondent's companion was 66.7% of doctors, 33.8% of nurses, 39.8% of medical technicians, 43.1% of office workers, and 17.6% of others. Response of conducting an autopsy for sudden death of patients in general hospital was 50.9% of doctors, 8.5% of nurses, 19.3% of medical technicians, 24.1% of office workers, and 17.6% of others. Survey about a proper institution for autopsy showed 73.7% of doctors for department of forensic medicine in medical school, and 62.0% of nurses, 59.0% of medical technicians, 46.6% of office workers, and 58.8% of others for National Institute of Scientific Investigation. Most of the respondents agreed with the forensic pathologist as the director of autopsy:98.2% of doctors, 94.4% of nurses, 96.4% of medical technicians, 89.7% of office workers, and 88.2% of others. Survey for necessity for autopsy showed responsiveness of doctors, 23.9% of nurses, 47.0% of medical technicians, 34.5% of office workers, and 23.5% of others. Survey for donation of him- or herself after death to the medical school or institution for the death investigation revealed responsiveness of 22.8% of doctors, 11.3% of nurses, 24.1% of medical technicians, 22.4% of office workers, and 23.5% of others. The result of the survey questionnaire showed more negative awareness for autopsy in nurses, medical technicians, office workers, others and than doctors. To improve the negative awareness for autopsy and settle proper postmortem inspection system, education of professional manpower for forensic medicine and inaction of law which is adequate for the actual circumstance of Korea should be considered.

• The Korean Journal of Legal Medicine
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.159-163
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• 2018

Progressive muscular dystrophy (PMD) is a primary muscle disease characterized by progressive muscle weakness and wasting, which is inherited by an X-linked recessive pattern and occurs mainly in males. There are several types of muscular dystrophies classified according to the distribution of predominant muscle weakness including Duchenne and Becker, Emery-Dreifuss, facioscapulohumeral, oculopharyngeal, and limb-girdle type. Clinical manifestations of PMD are clumsy, unsteady gait, pneumonia, heart failure, pulmonary edema, hydropericardium, hydrothorax, aspiration, syncopal attacks, and sudden cardiac death. The deceased was a 34-year-old man, and the onset of the first clinical symptom, gait disturbance, was in his late teens. His elder brother had the same disease and experienced brain death after a head trauma and died after mechanical ventilation was discontinued. After an autopsy, we found contracture of the joints, pseudohypertrophy of the calf, wasting and fat replacement of the thigh muscle, pericardial effusion (80 mL), fibrosis and fat replacement of the cardiac ventricular wall, pulmonary edema, and froth in the bronchus. The cause of death was heart failure and dyspnea due to muscular dystrophy. There was no sign or suspicion of foul play in his death.

• The Korean Journal of Legal Medicine
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.168-171
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• 2018

In Korea, small octopus (Octopus minor) and webfoot octopus (Octopus ocellatus) are food items and fatal laryngeal choking due to ingestion of live octopus is not uncommon. We recently encountered two autopsy cases of accidental choking on small octopus and webfoot octopus. Case 1 involved a 58-year-old fisherman who ingested two live webfoot octopuses in his fishing boat and collapsed. He was immediately taken to the hospital but died. During autopsy, one of the webfoot octopuses was found between his pharynx and esophagus; it was obstructing the epiglottis and upper esophagus. His blood alcohol concentration was 0.140%. Case 2 involved a 55-year-old man who ingested an intact body part of a small octopus and was found dead in his house. He had a history of cerebral infarction and angina pectoris. During autopsy, an intact body part of the small octopus was found to be lodged in the laryngeal inlet.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.115-121
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• 2021

Ethyl glucuronide (EtG) and ethyl sulfate (EtS), which are ethanol metabolites, are direct indicators of ethanol intake; they have been studied in a variety of biological samples in forensic science. It is necessary to analyze ethanol metabolites to determine whether the ethanol detected in autopsy cases was due to alcohol consumption before death or due to the ethanol produced from post-mortem decay. In general, EtG and EtS are detected in the blood together with ethanol; however, it may be difficult to secure blood depending on the extent of decay. Therefore, the aforementioned method should be replaced by detecting the ethanol metabolites using tissue biological samples. In this study, we determined the optimal experimental conditions for detecting EtG and EtS from spleen samples using Liquid Chromatography - Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Herein, the test method was validated, and an analysis method was applied to the actual autopsy cases.

• The Korean Journal of Legal Medicine
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.111-125
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• 2018

Statistical analysis was performed on national forensic autopsy data collected in the Republic of Korea, with the exception of Ulsan, during 2017. A total of 8,777 cases were categorized based on the region; information was provided by the Police Agency and the Coast Guard regarding sex, age, manner of death, and cause of death. Analysis of the manner of death revealed that 3,971 cases (45.2%) were unnatural deaths, 3,679 cases (41.9%) were natural deaths, and 1,127 cases (12.8%) were unknown deaths. Among the unnatural deaths, the majority of the cases (1,740 cases, 43.8%) were accidents, 1,316 cases (33.1%) were suicide, 385 cases (9.7%) were homicide, and 530 cases (13.3%) were undetermined deaths. Among the unnatural deaths, the majority of the cases (1,575 cases, 39.7%) were trauma, followed by 793 cases (20.0%) of poisoning and 689 cases (17.4%) of asphyxia. Falling down was the major cause of death by trauma (737 cases, 46.8%). As a result of the classification of asphyxia based on previous study, strangulation was the major cause, with 538 cases (78.1%). Among the natural deaths, heart disease was the major cause (1,790 cases, 48.7%), followed by vascular disease (697 cases, 18.9%).

• The Korean Journal of Legal Medicine
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.61-64
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• 2016

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome type IV (EDS IV) is a hereditary disorder of the connective tissue, characterized by easy bruising, thin skin with visible veins, and spontaneous rupture of the large arteries, uterus, or bowel. EDS IV is caused by mutations of the gene for type III procollagen (COL3A1), resulting in insufficient collagen production or a defect in the structure of collagen. EDS IV can have fatal complications such as the rupture of great vessels or organs, which can cause hemorrhaging and sudden unexpected death. Here, we report a case of a 43-year-old female who collapsed after a struggle with a neighbor. In this patient, the bifurcation of the bilateral common iliac artery ruptured, with no evidence of trauma, inflammation, or atherosclerosis. Genetic analysis of COL3A1 showed the presence of a c.2771G>A (p.Gly924Arg) mutation, which may be associated with EDS IV. The forensic pathologist should consider the possibility that the spontaneous visceral or arterial rupture was caused by EDS IV. Genetic analysis is not currently a routine procedure during autopsy. However, in this case, we suggest that the patient possibly had an underlying EDS IV condition, and we recommended family members of the deceased to seek genetic analysis and counseling.