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Forensic Epidemiology, Forensic Pathology, Ethics and Human Rights

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Forensic Epidemiology in the Global Context

Abstract

This chapter begins with a brief exploration of the historical relationship between investigation of death, death records, forensic pathology and public health. It demonstrates, through the use of case studies that emerge out of the work of a forensic institution in Australia, how modern forensic medicine has integrated an epidemiological function as a fundamental aspect of its contribution to both justice and public health. The role of forensic pathology and related disciplines in the resolution of mass deaths in war, internal conflict and disaster is examined. The importance of this work at both the level of the individual and to protecting public health is considered, as are the related ethical and human rights concerns.

The disinterest among Allied politicians and Foreign Office officials in war crimes contrasted to field investigators’ sustained concerns with medical war crimes. The initiative to investigate medical war crimes was pressed by a handful of energetic medical investigators. (Weindling, 2004)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Michael Kirby Centre for Public Health and Human Rights, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Bebe Loff

  2. Department of Forensic Medicine, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Stephen Cordner

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  1. Bebe Loff
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  2. Stephen Cordner
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Correspondence to Bebe Loff .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Bioethics, Case Western Reserve University, Euclid Avenue 10900, Cleveland, 44106-4945, Ohio, USA

    Sana Loue

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Loff, B., Cordner, S. (2013). Forensic Epidemiology, Forensic Pathology, Ethics and Human Rights. In: Loue, S. (eds) Forensic Epidemiology in the Global Context. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6738-0_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6738-0_6

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