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1 author:
Christopher Milroy
University of Ottawa
118 PUBLICATIONS 2,293 CITATIONS
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Forensic Taphonomy: on the Soviet regime. Stalin dismissed this as were placed in the ground. Forensic ento-
propaganda. A Soviet investigation the next mologists apply knowledge of insect succes-
The Postmortem Fate of year blamed the Nazis and the Soviet regime sion to the timing of death and may be able to
Human Remains tried (unsuccessfully) to include the Katyn say whether bodies have been disturbed. Bal-
Ed William D Haglund, Marcella H Sorg massacres on the Nuremberg indictments. listic experts can position gunmen at a
Only 50 years later did the Soviets admit massacre by the distribution of cartridge
CRC Press, 72, pp 636 shells and identify how many were present.
ISBN 0 849 39434 1 responsibility.
Katyn was an early example of the use of This book contains much information
Rating: forensic science to investigate war crimes, about taphonomic processes and the investi-
and of its misuse as propaganda. In the year gation of crime. The book details decompo-
that Stalin murdered the Polish soldiers, the sition processes, animal and insect activity,
Russian scientist and fantasist Efremov and environmental changes. Case studies
coined the term taphonomy (from the vary from an investigation of the killing of
Greek taphos for grave) to describe death Kurds in Iraq during Saddam Husseins
assemblages in the fossil records. The term Anfal campaign to the investigation of
historic Inuit skeletons showing postmor-
taphonomy is now used to describe the
tem interference by polar bears. All these
postmortem fate of biological remains.
forensic disciplines have combined to inves-
Forensic taphonomy is the application of
tigate events from single victim homicides to
such processes to assist legal investigations.
O
n 5 March 1940 Stalin gave the war crimes involving thousands of victims.
order for the NKVD to execute Traditionally, the examination of human
An increasingly important role has been in
prisoners of war captured during remains in suspicious circumstances has
the investigation of war crimes in such
the combined German and Soviet occupa- rested with forensic pathologists, but scien-
places as the former Yugoslavia and
tion of Poland. In 1943, 4500 victims were tists with knowledge to assist in the recovery Rwanda. After Katyn, as Norman Davies
discovered in mass graves in the Katyn For- of evidence from such cases have an quotes in his excellent book on Europe,
rest, after the Germans had overrun Soviet important role. Forensic anthropologists those who chose to tell the truth stood to be
territory. The Polish government in exile study the skeleton to distinguish injuries from dismissed as unscientific. But the truth will
demanded a commission to investigate, and the effects of the environment, postmortem out, murder cannot be hid for long.
an international team of forensic investiga- human activity, or animal interference. Foren-
tors under German authority examined the sic archaeologists apply knowledge of the C M Milroy senior lecturer in forensic pathology,
victims. This investigation placed the blame recovery of buried remains to how the victims University of Sheffield
The Definition of Death: fascinating collection of short articles. For exposes the extent to which the debate is
readers unversed in the depth of the debate, truly complex by demonstrating the critical
Contemporary some articles may initially seem somewhat differences of opinion between experts.
Controversies difficult, but, by reading the book through, Admittedly, reading the book requires
Eds Stuart J Youngner, Robert M Arnold, even the less well informed will soon grasp concentration and a certain amount of
Renie Schapiro the nature of the debate that has engaged knowledge about the ethical and clinical
some of these scholars for a considerable debate, but perseverance is rewarded. If the
Johns Hopkins University book is occasionally hard to read, it is not
time.
Press, 45, pp 368
The book looks at various aspects of this because the writing is anything other than
ISBN 0 8018 5985 9
most vexing subject, including the historical clear, but rather because the ideas themselves
Rating: Rating: and clinical framework, the interface are so subtle and complicated. That experts
between the philosophical and the clinical, disagree may be discomfiting, but it is also
regulation of and public attitudes to the somehow reassuring. This book cautions
definition of death, international perspec- both implicitly and explicitly against compla-
tives, and public policy. It concludes with a cency and alerts readers to the immense ethi-
consideration of the future. cal and clinical concerns about the meaning
Much of the book concentrates on the of death, its definition, and its determination.
definition of death itself. Should the
Sheila McLean director, Institute of Law and
definition used be that adopted in some US Ethics in Medicine, University of Glasgow
T
his is an excellent book. The editors statesnamely, the death of the whole
have managed to put together brainor are other tests adequate to counte-
contributions from some of the most The BMJ Bookshop will endeavour to obtain
nance acceptance that death has occurred
any books reviewed here. To order contact the
influential thinkers in biomedical ethics in (or, at least, that the process is irrevocably BMJ Bookshop, BMA House, Tavistock Square,
the United States, and some experts from established)? The answer to these questions London WC1H 9JR.
other countries, making for an engaging and will, of course, inform both treatment Tel: 0171 383 6244, Fax: 0171 383 6455
decisions and the use to which the email: orders@bmjbookshop.com
deceased body may be put (such as in Online: www.bmjbookshop.com
Reviews are rated on a 4 star scale (Prices and availability subject to change by
(4=excellent) organ transplantation programmes). There publishers.)
are no simple answers, and this book
PERSONAL VIEW
T
o what extent are doctors agents of
the state and does it matter? At a
recent meeting organised by the
Human Values and Health Care Forum,
Professor Michael Burleigh presented his-
torical data on the role of doctorsmainly
psychiatrists and paediatriciansin the
execution of the so called euthanasia policy,
pursued and legalised in Nazi Germany in
1933. A contemporary account of the
complexities of doctors involvement in state
business was provided by a forensic psychia-
trist who explored the ways that doctors are
involvedwith varying degrees of
intimacyin the punishment of those who
offend against the state.
Burleighs paper contained material
both fascinating and awful. It is clear from
SOUNDINGS