Golden rules of medical evidence

by Stanley B. Atkinson

IV. VITAL ACTIVITIES WHICH MAY HAVE IMMEDIATELY PRECEDED SUDDEN DEATH,

1. Respiration: Soot or froth may be in the mouth, trachea, or nostrils.

2. Deglutition and Peristalsis: Local water or blood may have been swallowed; food may be in the stomach (e.g., of the newly-born); vomit or fæces may have been voided; salivation may have been profuse.

3. Blood-Circulation: Much blood may have been lost, possibly having “spurted” (e.g., in the newly-born); the heart and vessels may be empty; there may be true extravasation into or hyperæmia of the tissues (a microscope will reveal reaction to an irritant); the veins may be swollen on the distal side of a ligature; the blood may give spectroscopic tests for poisonings.

4. Neuromuscular: Articles may be clutched e.g., weapons, grass (“a drowning man catches at a straw”), hair, mud; cutis anserina may be present; emissio seminis or abortion may have occurred; the eyelids are usually open at death; children are usually born with the eyelids sealed.