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Pediatric Asphyxial Deaths

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Forensic Pathology of Infancy and Childhood

Abstract

Investigating possible asphyxial death in infants and young children poses numerous challenges. Although the very young can die from almost any type of asphyxial death, some asphyxial deaths are unique to this age group. In many infant and young-children asphyxial deaths, the proper recognition of the cause of death will rest heavily on the history and scene investigation, since autopsy findings may be minimal and nonspecific. Although presumably rare, intentional asphyxiation of infants in most cases remains almost impossible to distinguish from “SIDS”, sudden unexplained infant death (SUID), or accidental asphyxiation.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office, 530 Chicago Avenue, 55415, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Andrew M. Baker

Authors
  1. Andrew M. Baker
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Correspondence to Andrew M. Baker .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Kim A. Collins

  2. University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    Roger W. Byard

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© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Baker, A.M. (2014). Pediatric Asphyxial Deaths. In: Collins, K., Byard, R. (eds) Forensic Pathology of Infancy and Childhood. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-403-2_28

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