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Burn Injury

  • Chapter
Essentials of Autopsy Practice

Summary

Burn injuries present challenging problems to the forensic physician and pathologist. The principal issue usually is causation, particularly when a distinction is to be made between an accident and a deliberate act. The principal additional issue with burn-related fatalities is establishing the cause of death, which usually is either “burn shock” or infection. Forensic pathologists need to be familiar with heatrelated postmortem artifacts and their distinction from antemortem changes. It is important that electrical burns be looked for and recognized, especially in the absence of a good history suggesting electrocution.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Royal Victoria Infirmary, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    P. Nigel Cooper MBBS, BA, MRCPath (Consultant Home Office Pathologist)

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  1. P. Nigel Cooper MBBS, BA, MRCPath
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Leicester, Leicester, UK

    Guy N. Rutty MD, MBBS, FRCPath, DipRCPath(Forensic) (Consultant Home Office Pathologist) (Consultant Home Office Pathologist)

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Cooper, P.N. (2006). Burn Injury. In: Rutty, G.N. (eds) Essentials of Autopsy Practice. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-84628-026-5_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-84628-026-5_9

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