by Dr BASHIR QURESHI FRCGP, FRCPCH, FFSRH-RCOG, AFOM-RCP, London: author of Transcultural Medicine; expert witness in cultural, religious and ethnic issues in litigation; Emeritus Vice President of the Royal Society for Public Health, UK
MY FIRST English Christmas, on 25 December 1964, was a white Christmas, in a true sense. I was born in India, medically qualified in Pakistan and started work in Whipps Cross Hospital, East London.
by JIM RENNIE
ANYONE WHO has ever passed an accident scene may have wondered: “How did this happen?” or “How did the vehicles get where they are?”
Accurate analysis of the crash scene and all available evidence is essential to enable the full picture to be appreciated. Ideally, it will involve a visit to the accident scene to obtain the data necessary to prepare accurate scale plans, take photographs of sight lines and visibility and, where possible, record any physical evidence which may still exist.
LORD BOWEN is attributed with this famous advice to a jury in 1903: “We must ask ourselves what the man on the Clapham omnibus would think.”
Just over 50 years later, in Bolam (1957), McNair J pointed out that this much celebrated man (probably on a horse-drawn omnibus at the time!) could not be expected to give a reliable opinion in a case where some special skill is exercised.
IN 2009 LOSSES from retail theft and fraud exceeded £4bn – or £68 per person in the UK!
A substantial proportion of the theft and fraud is done by staff, but the process of bringing a criminal prosecution is time consuming – and hence expensive – for the retailer, so there is a tendency for the employer to simply dismiss the employee and turn their back on the problem.
A FORENSIC odontologist is a dentist who specialises in interpreting dental evidence for the courts. The British Association for Forensic Odontology is the professional association of these experts, and maintains a list of active odontologists.
Most of the work done by these experts involves the identification of human remains. In many cases the dental examination can give an indication of the age of the person at the time of death, which can help to reduce the number of missing persons being considered. Then dental records of the missing persons are compared with the dental condition of the body and an identification may be confirmed. The odontologist will prepare a written report for the Coroner, but is rarely called to support it in person.
