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Biomedical subjects

G K Murphy

Publications and source records attributed to G K Murphy.

28 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1983

Death in the desert. The sabotage-derailment of "The City of San Francisco".

The completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 was a milestone in American history. Seventy years later in August 1939, the westbound, new Southern Pacific Railroad streamlined passenger train "City of San Francisco," was intentionally derailed at high speed in northern Nevada by saboteurs who had moved a rail out of alignment. This resulted in a spectacular wreck, claiming the lives of 24 passengers and crew. Despite the finding of physical and trace evidence; and lengthy, exhaustive investigations by railroad police, the FBI, and forensic scientists, the perpetrators were never brought to justice. Deaths resulting from vandalism and sabotage are among the least common of railroad-related deaths; however, acts of vandalism and violence including train derailment are increasingly frequent in this country. Law enforcement officers and forensic scientists must be able to place these incidents in their proper perspective and to successfully investigate and solve them by employing all means at their disposal.

Crime↗
PubMed1981

Gunshot wound of the chest with five intrathoracic foreign bodies.

When a firearm projectile strikes an intermediate target before entering a body, foreign material from that target may be carried into the body with the projectile. This material should be sought and recovered at autopsy, for it may prove to be valuable evidence in subsequent legal proceedings. The unusual case reported here is that of a 12-year-old boy who was sitting on a couch in front of his living room window and there sustained a .45 caliber gunshot wound of the left anterior chest from a gunshot fired at another person in the street outside. First passing through the back of the couch, the bullet carried with it into the body four pieces of cloth and a metal spring, thereby causing an unusual cutaneous entrance wound, and laceration of the right cardiac ventricle and fatal cardiac tamponade within an intact pericardial sac. The assailant was convicted of first-degree murder, a verdict which he appealed.

Child↗
PubMed1980

The study of gunshot wounds in surgical pathology.

Both the laboratory and the pathologist are frequently involved in medicolegal cases. A relatively infrequent though important example is the case involving study of gunshot wounds in surgical pathology. Procedures for the proper gross and microscopic examination of gunshot wound specimens have been documented in the literature, and are briefly reviewed. A protocol for documenting the chain of custody for physical evidence recovered in these cases must be strictly observed in each department of surgical pathology. A large hospital's surgical pathology files contained 70 gunshot wound cases for 1969-1978. Review employing Adelson's reference work revealed correct microscopic findings and diagnosis in 90% of specimens, the 11 errors all failures to recognize gunpowder residue in tissues. There were nine specimens of physical evidence. Two errors were made in the gross examination of these specimens, and despite a chain-of-custody protocol pathologists failed to adequately document 44% of them. The surgical pathologist has available ample resources for studying gunshot wound specimens. Using them he can correctly interpret most cases, at the same time fulfilling his medicolegal obligations.

Forensic Medicine↗
PubMed1978

Sudden death in adolescence.

The majority of adolescent deaths are sudden and unexpected; of these, the great majority result from violence. These violent deaths largely accounted for the 25% increase in total adolescent mortality during the 1960s. Yet, sudden death in adolescence is not a distinct entity and receives little study from either pediatricians or pathologists. Some cases of sudden death in adolescence are puzzling and difficult to classify. The pathologist must in each case obtain a detailed history, usually perform a complete autopsy, and obtain consultation when necessary. Only then will each case be adequately studied, and related medical questions and other problems be properly resolved.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1977

Cancer and the coroner.

There exist few reports concerning cancer presenting in forensic autopsies. This study of 1,300 consecutive forensic autopsies yielded 22 cases of single cancers (1.7%) of multiple primary sites and histologic types. The forensic autopsy affords unique opportunity to study not only diagnosed and treated trauma, disease, and cancer, but the natural evolution of untreated cancer as well. Clinically occult cancer is not uncommon and may eventually present clinically or at autopsy in unusual fashion. Advanced cancer may, sometimes on initial presentation, be responsible for sudden unexpected death. Persons with cancer, even in an advanced state, uncommonly commit suicide. Conversely, those committing suicide ostensibly because of known cancer infrequently prove to have cancer at autopsy. Through these autopsy studies, the forensic pathologist gains information invaluable for statistical, clinical, and medicolegal purposes, truly fulfilling his role of "community pathologist".

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Applications of cytology to forensic pathology.

In the practice of forensic pathology, all of the disciplines of anatomic and clinical pathology, as well as other forensic sciences, are employed for the solution of medicolegal questions and cases. This is a brief review of the current applications of cytology to forensic pathology, presented for the benefit of both cytologists and other pathologists who may be involved in forensic work. Cytologic studies employing established methods of specimen collection and preparation are used for the determination of sex in both living and dead persons, for the determination of sex and for tissue identification in trace evidence and in the documentation of some disease processes occurring in the forensic setting. Correlation of the cytologic evidence with the investigative and clinical findings is mandatory. The application of cytology to forensic pathology is both proven and practical

Crime↗