Autopsy Examination and Tracking Gun Ownership

promethium Examination and Tracking grinder self-commandA. IntroductionThe Long Goodbye is a film in 1973, which was critically acclaimed as a story of humans morality in a self-obsessed society. Not being a scientific film, it however comprises some assassinate scenes and forensic investigation, which allow us with very good examples to study and regain compend with our knowledge.B. SynopsisThe story consists of two concurrent story threads, which starting time appear to be unrelated, scarcely generally become connected by the stories end. It began with a night when private investigator Philip Marlowe (the main character) was visited by his secretive friend, terrycloth Lennox, who asked for a drive to Mexico border at Tijuana. Philip was convinced that terry cloth was in a fight with his wife, Sylvia, and agreed to help. However, he later spy that Lennox was wanted by police and being acc utilize of murder of his wife. Having ref apply to co-operate and provide any inf ormation, Marlowe was arrested as an accomplice. However, three days later, he was released subsequently it was lay step to the fore that Lennox had committed suicide. The case was closed with Lennoxs close.The story continued with a nonher(prenominal) story thread which Eileen Wade hired Marlowe to find her missing husband. Her husband, Roger Wade, was an causation with drinking problems. He had disappeared on previous occasions, usually to rehab institutions, but not this time. Marlowe took the case and surprisingly dis stretch revealed the relationship between the Wade braces and Lennox couple throughout the search. The suspicious connection and clues motivated Marlowe to find out the truth behind the death of Lennox couple. He started to conduct a arrant(a) investigation.To obtain more(prenominal) information and prove Lennoxs innocence, Marlowe encountered a doctor, a gangster boss and a guard. He followed the leads, but more and more signs of suspicion were disclosed . Integrating pieces and pieces of puzzles, he finally discovered that Lennox had faked his death to cover his murder and possession of dirty money. Being utilize and betrayed by his take up friend, Marlowe shot Lennox by himself at the end of the story.C. Evidence GatheredWith Lennoxs death, evidences were self-possessed for examination and documentation by the police force. Black and snow-covered photographs of crime scene were taken to record essential information or clues, condition and position of the executed bole, come-at-able weapons and other physical evidences were recorded.Photographs of the slain organic structure in a bathtub (Screenshot from The Long Goodbye)Fingerprints were in any case imperturbable in the crime scene of Lennoxs death for pull ahead credit and comparison. They contain individual distinctives, the identity of the dead body and those who had plan of attack to the crime scene can be distinguished and known.Multiple thumbprints collected in the crime scene (Screenshot from The Long Goodbye)Meanwhile, the torpedoman used in the Lennoxs suicidal death was claimed to be retrieved. It was plant to be registered under(a) Lennoxs name which proved a possible suicide. that examinations can be conducted to determine whether the weapon was connected to the death of Lennox. The physical evidences were only sent to examine with different techniques.D. TechniquesMoving on to the techniques, premier examination and gun tracing were employed to investigate Terry Lennoxs suicidal death. Results concluded that Terrys death was instant(prenominal) by a gunshot triggered by a gun registered under his name. Should the investigation be free from bribery and bureaucracy, a forged guiltless gun infract should not fool the coroner. Subsequent exemplification abstract should reveal a high decimal point of inebriation through Terrys injection of drugs to fake his death. A toxicology examination should thereby be carried out t o determine the kind and type of drug that pass pissd his death.1. see ExaminationAn autopsy is a medical examination carried out on both external and internal surfaces of a dead body, to determine the pee of death and what caused the death. It is performed when approximatelyone dies suddenly and unexpectedly while in evidently good health. Thus, Terrys instantaneous and suspicious death would certainly be subjected to further autopsy investigation by a coroner. after proving the gun wound fake, Terrys high degree of intoxication should deem suspicious enough for a toxicological analysis by a pathologist to confirm his cause of death.External examination reproduce is carried out before any autopsy analysis of the dead body, for identification and the matching of the fingerprints found on weapons and other physical evidence. The method pick out in this process depends primarily on the condition of the dead body. If the body is in poor condition, alike Terrys body which has be en steamed in water, fingerprints moderate to be recovered through first degloving and removing the finger skin, placing them on the fingertip of one operator. Powdering provide and then be app cunningd to the prints to convince their transpose onto paper for record and future comparison.After fingerprinting the body, the coroner will carry out systematic external examination of the body in terms of these few aspects.(i)Stature determination (height, gender etc.)(ii)Description of recent or old traumatic elements and congenital abnormalities(iii)Phenotypic characteristics (hair color, axillar description etc.)The gunshot wound found on Terrys body will therefore lie in the second category as a recent wound that directly contributed his death. However, had the coroner be free from bribery, he should be up to(p) to distinguish it as a harmless forged wound. This abnormality should fabricate enough suspicion for internal examination to determine his real cause of death.Internal examinationTo reveal Terrys high degree of intoxication, pathologists are responsible for collecting a variety of biological specimen necessary for toxicology screens. Conventional biological specimen includes blood, glassy humour, urine, stomach and colorful contents, which will be sent to toxicology laboratories for separation, identification and quantification. Lethality and toxicity in the meanness of drug molecules will thus serve as a deciding(prenominal) of ones cause of death.2. Gun possession registrationGun ownership tracing has also been used to determine the ownership of the gun, which is guess to be the weapon that directly caused Terrys death. By tracing the serial number and registration record, the police officers confirmed that the gun is registered under Terrys name in the counter of Los Angeles, thus, description Terrys case as suicidal death.E. Addressing Toxicology in Autopsy in detaila) Specimen Collection (Postmortem Specimen some of them will be disc ussed below)harmonize to The International connective of rhetorical Toxicologists (TIAFT), a forensic toxicology organization founded in London in 1963, there are some recommendations on sample collection, which are listed belowi) Blood According to the testing ground Guideline provided by the Society of rhetorical Toxicologists (2006), it mentions, in majority of the postmortem cases, blood is al bureaus the intimately crucial and single specimen for the toxicology analysis. However, it also suggests that experts should collect at least 2 blood specimens if it is possible in each case. Flanagan, Connally and Evans (2005) suggests the method and procedures for blood collection that firstly 30 ml of central blood (from the right atrium of the heart, inferior vena cava, or another large vessel) should be collected for qualitative analysis and secondly 10 ml peripheral blood from the left and right femoral veins should be collected by direct vascular access.ii) Urine Levine (2 006) mentions that most of the drugs and metabolites will still remain in a congenericly higher(prenominal) concentration and for a longer period in urine than in blood. Therefore, it is important to collect all the urine available from the specimen for analysis.iii) vitrified Humor According to TIAFT, vitreous humor is a biological crystal clear that can be collected from the lens of the eye. Drummer (2002) mentions that it has a desirable characteristic of being so stable that can be more repelling to any putrefactive changes than other specimens. Therefore, for a better analysis, if possible, it is suggested that all vitreous fluid should be collected from each eye (Levine, 2006).Apart from the higher up specimens, others specimens including gastric contents, bile, cerebrospinal fluid, tissues (liver, lung) are also needed to collected for further testing.Limitations Time is a major problem. It is important that all the specimens are collected as fast as possible being put in separate containers for accurate analysis. For most specimens, Skopp (2004) suggests disposable hard plastic or glass tubes should be used for the storage of specimens. Also, Flanagan, Connally and Evans (2005) suggest that samples should be stored at a maximum of 4C when being analyzed after autopsy, if not, they should be stored at -20C.b) Analytical ProcessAccording to Fitzgerald, Rivera and Herold (2010), most of the drugs molecules cannot be distinguished directly through the post-mortem specimens, thus they have to be uncaring from the biological matrix before they undergo the toxicology analysis. For the separation, there are few steps. Firstly, the specimens need to undergo heating at 60 80 degrees in a sealed container. Secondly, it is the protein precipitation that we need to concentrate the proteins and purify them from mingled contaminants. Then, it is the liquid-liquid extraction. Sapkale, Patil, Surwase and Bhatbhage (2010) mention that this process is used to se parate compounds based on their relative solubility in two different immiscible liquids, usually water and an organic solvent. After that, the analysts can be identified and quantified by techniques, such as spectrophotometry, chromatography and immunoassay.1) SpectrophotometryAccording to Watson (2008), she states that color tests can able to test an unknown drug with a chemical or mixture of chemicals. Therefore, the change of the colour of the test substance can help find out the type of the drug it belongs to (See Table 1). Drugs like Heroin, Morphine, Cocaine, Barbiturates and Marijuana can be screened by the color test. Other drug tests include ultraviolet spectrophotometry is used to recognize other drug classes. Wilkinson, Dale, Wayne and Martin (2002) mention that ultraviolent spectrophotometry can analyzes how the substance reacts to ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) light. The spectrophotometry machine will emit UV and IR rays, and then it will measure how the sample r eflects or absorbs these rays so as to identify what type of substance is present in it (Watson, 2008).(Table 1 Source from Westchester part of Laboratories and Research)2) ChromatographyAccording to Pervez (2001), this technique is widely used because it can distinguish the heraldic bearing of a certain chemical in a highly mixed mixture. There are 2 types of chromatography, including Gas Chromatography (GC) and Liquid Chromatography (LC). GC is usually used to identify volatile toxicants and those that contain carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and halogen-carrying molecules. Comparing with spectrophotometry, Pervez (2001) also mentions that GC is a highly sensitive toxicology test, which is good at identifying the drug molecule. For liquid chromatography (LC), it is used to identify non-volatile and/or thermally labile toxicants.3) immunoassayAccording to ImmunoChemisty Technologies, LLC, immunoassays are quick and accurate tests that can be used onsite and in the laboratory to dete ct specific molecules. It also mentions that it is dependent on the internal ability of an antibody to bind to the specific structure of a molecule so as to detect the presence of drugs in the specimen. Analysts in biological liquids like serum or urine are frequently measured victimisation this method for medical and research purposes.F. MismatchIn the film, Lennox fakes his death by drug injection and bribing the policeman (who acts as the coroner too), who, interesting, simply takes photos of the dead body and announces his death of intoxication, without any surgical procedure to determine and appreciate the cause and manner of the Lennoxs death. But it is quite a mismatch in reality since 1) bribing not only one policeman, but all the police, coroners and other all officers to fake ones death sounds unreasonable and impossible. Moreover, according to Laws of Hong Kong, medicate practitioner shall provide certificate where cause of death of certain deceased should be clearly s tated with proof. 2) Forensic toxicology for autopsy was widely used (even already available in 1970s). That substance in the film, coroners should carry out drug test to further obtain and interpret the cause of death.As for tracking gun ownership, according to Laws of Hong Kong, no person shall possess any firearms or ammunition unless one holds a license for possession of such items. So we should look into the situation in other countries, for example, the U.S. where the murder case happens in the film. While the Gun laws present in the United States are dependent on different states, they contain owners including sellers and buyers to have specific license to possess firearms. In crime experience investigation, these license for sure are used to trace the registration and ownership of guns. Instead of saying it as a mismatch, it, as alike to the ways in the movie, is still a very useful way in nowadays to solve crimes.G. ConclusionBy investigating this film, we have examine d the use of autopsy examination and tracking gun ownership, which are used in the movie. We address forensic toxicology in autopsy like Spectrophotometry, Chromatography and Immunoassay in detail. Finally we come to a conclusion that faked death is about impossible to happen nowadays in reality, but tracking gun ownership is still made possible and useful nowadays.BibliographyBeauthier, J.-P., Lefevre, P., De Valck, E. (2011). Autopsy and acknowledgement Techniques. In N.-A. M. 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