Parikh's Textbook of Medical Jurisprudence Forensic Medicine & Toxicology

778 Pages·95.012 MB·English

by  B. V. Subrahmanyam

Parikh’s
Eighth Edition
Textbook of
Medical Jurisprudence,
Forensic Medicine and
Toxicology

for Classrooms and Courtrooms
The original author of this book
Prof CK Parikh
was
Honorary Professor of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology
Seth GS Medical College and KEM Hospital (University of Mumbai)
Mumbai
Editor, Journal of the Indian Medical Profession, Mumbai
Visiting Professor
Forensic Science, Criminology, and Toxicology
University of Saugar, Sagar, India
Visiting Professor
Forensic Medicine and Toxicology
Universities of Zagreb, Yugoslavia, and Turku, Oulu, and
Helsinki, Finland
Editor’s Note
The eighth edition of Parikh’s Medical Jurisprudence, Forensic Medicine and Toxicology
has been prepared adding new material without changing the style and pattern of
the book as desired by the publishers. A thorough revision has been made keeping in
mind the recent developments. New illustrations and photographs have also been added.
This edition has been brought out in colour, using modern technology and coated paper
to ensure high quality of reproduction of illustrations to match the currently published
literature on the subject.
BV Subrahmanyam
Parikh’s
Eighth Edition
Textbook of
Medical Jurisprudence,
Forensic Medicine and
Toxicology

for Classrooms and Courtrooms
Editor
BV Subrahmanyam
MD DGL FAFM DYO MIAFM AAFS
Professor and Head,
Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology
Narayana Medical College and Hospital
Nellore , AP, India
524002
Former
Dean, Medical College, Bhavnagar, Gujarat
Add. Dean, Medical Colleges, Baroda, Surat, Gujarat
Medical Superintendent, New Civil Hospital, and Govt Medical College, Surat
Professor and Head, Medical Colleges, Baroda, Jamnagar, Surat, Imphal (Manipur)
Faculty Dean, South Gujarat University, Surat
Examiner, Indian and foreign Universities and PhD Guide
Reader, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University
Assistant Professor, Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad
Tutor, SV Medical College, Thiruvattar

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Preface to the Eighth Edition
Foreword to Sixth Edition
Most modern textbooks of forensic pathology do not include discussions of those areas of
civil and criminal law that interact with much frequency and importance on the
medicolegal investigation of known, suspected, or alleged unnatural deaths. Forensic
psychiatry and toxicology are two other major divisions of forensic medicine that are not
usually included in such volumes. Similarly, one does not encounter many substantive
references to pathology in books that are written for psychiatrists and toxicologists. Thus, it
usually is necessary for medical students and practicing physicians to have access to several
different texts while studying forensic medicine, or when confronted by actual clinical
situations with medicolegal ramifications.
Dr CK Parikh has composed an outstanding single volume that combines a thorough
review of the traditional topics in forensic pathology with the basic concepts of both
psychiatry and toxicology as they relate to the courts and the legal system. Moreover, this
noted academician and author has included broad coverage of matters that involve clinical
situations with which the modern day forensic expert must be familiar, e.g. rape and sexual
offenses, child and spousal abuse, paternity testing, and in vitro fertilization. These and many
other highly complex and controversial subjects are issues that society will have to confront
with increasing frequency in the foreseeable future.
Further enhancing the pedagogic value of this book is a large number of illustrations that
depict many of the pathological entities discussed in the text. The reader can correlate the
various entities quite easily in this fashion, and thereby gain a much better understanding
and appreciation of what the author is describing.
Forensic medicine is a fascinating field of endeavor, arguably the most exciting, dynamic,
and constantly challenging area of medical specialization. It is also one of the most complex
and intellectually demanding of professional pursuits, combining as it does the vast and
seemingly diverse bodies of knowledge that comprise two of the world's oldest and noblest
professions, law and medicine. Without justice, law, and order, there can be no civilization.
Without medicine and science, there can be no decent quality of life. Hence, the ethical and
moral demands, as well as the mental achievement and emotional stability, of a truly
knowledgeable medicolegal expert, are indeed quite substantial and formidable.
To teach and write about forensic medicine with clarity, accuracy, and perception is not
an easy task. To compile a lengthy, detailed and authoritative textbook that covers the broad
gamut of medicolegal subjects that span forensic pathology, toxicology, and psychiatry, as
well as clinical forensic medicine and jurisprudence, is truly a remarkable accomplishment.
Parikh’s Textbook of Medical Jurisprudence, Forensic Medicine, and Toxicology for
Classrooms and Courtrooms is a very worthwhile and valuable addition to the medicolegal
literature. The author, Dr CK Parikh, has once again demonstrated his great ability to share
his wealth of knowledge, experience, and expertise with medical students and practitioners
at all levels.
Cyril H. Wecht MD, JD
Past President, American Academy of Forensic Sciences;
Past President, American College of Legal Medicine;
Coroner, Allegheny County (Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania; Chief
Pathologist, and Chairman, Department of Pathology,
St. Francis Hospital, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Foreword to Sixth Edition
There is no shortage of books in the field of legal medicine. However, many are written by
specialists for specialists, and are not particularly suited to those who are trying to learn,
revised, or gain an ovrall insight into the subject. I know of no single book specially designed
to meet the diverse requirements of persons working in the medicolegal field. Dr Parikh’s
book fills a vital gap in the literature on the subject. It covers forensic medicine, pathology,
and biology, forensic psychiatry, clinical and forensic toxicology and medical jurisprudence.
It is seldom that one has an opportunity to see or review a book in the manuscript stage, as
I had in this instance, and even more unusual to see one in which the concepts are simply
and clearly explained. Knowledge is of little value while it remains confined within the heads
of a few individuals, and it can only be uitlized when other understand the concepts involved.
The vast majority of judges and jurors have not attended medical school, or studied a branch
of science in depth, so it is incumbent upon those who possess large amounts of medical
knowledge to express it in terms that most people can easily understand. Dr Parikh has
rendered a service to the medical and legal professions by ensuring clarity, and by including
a wide variety of material and concepts in a single volume.
In this basic book, the subject is developed step by step. Various advances, scattered
throughout the literature, are included at appropriate places in the text. The question and
answer format in relation to certain topics is a specially welcome feature. It provides a simple
means of professional self-assessment, it will help encourage logical thinking, and it will
most certainly help to prepare for examinations, and for courtroom appearances.
The text contains all that medical students and forensic nurses are expected to know. It
will also assist postgraduate students in revision, because it compiles so much in a single
volume, that it will save them from having to search through many unwieldy texts to
locate necessary information. Likewise, medical practitioners, nurses working in sensitive
areas, advanced providers of first aid, and law enforcement officers, will find in it answers
to questions that will arise in the course of their work. It will help to develop a sense of
emphasis and proportion towards the subject matter, and facilitate a grasp of the
fundamentals, which may not so easily be acquired from larger textbooks.
This book also addresses material of interest to the newly qualified doctor working in an
emergency setting, and will provide assistance whenever medical situations and/or questions
arise. It will contribute to standards of forensic practice in the courts, especially in rural areas
where there may be no local expert to call upon. Only when proper observations are made at
the time, supported by appropriate photographs, X-rays, diagrams and documentation, will
an expert be able to help when questions arise.
One of all fascinations of helping with such a text, is the amazing differences that exist
between the various countries. Both Dr Parikh and I, routinely see things and encounter
situations that are almost rarities to the other. Dr Parikh routinely encounters types of
poisonings and violence that are not commonly seen in my part of the world. Likewise, I
have seen many injuries from types of vehicles and weapons that are not quite familiar to
him. As communications improve, and the world progresses to a global community, we all
need to know more about the customs and behavior of other lands. Our association has thus
resulted in a text which is broader in scope, and which has hardly and geographical constraints.
viii Textbook of Medical Jurisprudence, Forensic Medicine and Toxicology
Unfortunately, dogmatic opinions dervied from outdated or unsound data, or drawn from
texts that repeat previous dogmas, are all too common in the medicolegal field. Times have
changed and advances have been made. Accordingly, presentation of the current status of
the subject is the need of the day, and this is a major point of this book. For instance, an
author may cite the details of tissue changes based on a study made in the period between
about 1920 and 1940, and then try to use this data to make estimates of age or duration of
injuries in the tissues of a victim kept alive by means of antibiotics, respirators, dialysis, and
transfusions. Without modern techniques, the present subject would long since have been
dead, and the two situations are certainly not comparable. Likewise, a book written in 1910s
to 1930s may state from how far gunpowder grains are capable of marking the skin, but this
data is no longer valid if newer shapes or sizes of grain, better capable of flying through the
air, have since been introduced. Therefore, I have tried to make sure that my contributions
are as accurate as possible, and I know Dr Parikh has done likewise.
This is, therefore, a book to be acquired for the amount of material it contains, for the
sound tuition it gives, and for reference as a dependable aid to the practice of forensic
medicine and everyday toxicology. The author has contributed a masterly work to the
field of legal medicine.
Patrick E. Besant-Matthews MD
Consultant and Practicing Forensic Pathologist, Dallas, Texas,
USA; Formerly, Deputy Chief Medical Examiner, South
Western Institute of Forensic Sciences, Dallas, Texas, USA
Preface to the Seventh Edition
All efforts have been made to retain in this edition the original flavour of Parikh’s book.
Contents have been updated in all the areas to help the medical students and also the
legal professionals. Latest material has been added at appropriate places, several old
photographs replaced by better visuals, and many new photographs also added in the text.
Protection of children from Sexual Offences Act, recent changes in the criminal law in
relation to rape, sexual deviations, penetrating sexual assault and acid attacks are incorporated.
In the answers to the relevant questions, updated matter is incorporated. Body farming, virtual
autopsy, narcoanalysis, hair dye poisoning, newer plant poisons like brasinolide, and khat
abuse are added. Old photographs have been replaced with new and recent photographs
with crisp captions in relation to decomposition, autopsy technique, various injuries, violent
asphyxial deaths, snakes, scorpion, three-parent baby, and presumed consent in deceased
organ donation also added.
Hope this book continues to enjoy its reputation in classrooms and courtrooms, besides
among investigating officers and lawyers. Any new suggestions from the readers are welcome.
The questions in the book are useful to the defence attorneys while questing the medical
witness in cross-examination.
BV Subrahmanyam