When death enters the courtroom, a myriad of difficult questions are raised, including: How/when/where did she die? Was someone else responsible and if so, who? Did she suffer and for how long? In order to properly answer these questions and many others, forensic pathological expertise is nearly always required.

Unfortunately, as with many other fields in which scientific testimony is elicited, there is a shortage of well-trained, full-time, board-certified forensic pathologists, and as a result, in expert, unqualified and invalid opinions abound in legal proceedings - with potentially tragic and/or financially devastating consequences.

This chapter on the Forensic Autopsy will enable lawyers, judges and experts to discern between proper forensic pathology and inadequate, often completely wrong assessments, and to keep the latter from the finders of fact. Among the range of issues examined include forensic reasoning on the following topics: