Battered child syndrome in the records of the Department of Forensic Medicine, Medical University of Bialystok.

Violence against children has been until now recognised as physical aggression escalating from corporal punishment, hard physical labour to homicide. Nowadays child abuse is considered as maltreatment occurring in four different aspects: physical abuse, psychological abuse, sexual abuse and neglect. Child abuse is difficult to disclose, as it is concealed both by the perpetrators and the victims. The child is afraid and at the same time, almost always ashamed of looking for help. The victim frequently feels guilty, considers the violence as a norm, but in many cases is not able to speek precisely and very often has problems in contacting the required person. The objective of this study is to analyse the phenomenon of child abuse on the basis of Department of Forensic Medicine records. The victims were characterized in terms of their age, sex, place of residence and the type and location of injuries. The kind of abuse and perpetrators were also determined by researchers.

[The analysis of neonatal deaths based on autopsy protocols of the Department of Forensic Medicine in Bialystok in the years 1955-2009]. / Analiza zgonów noworodków w oparciu o protokoly sekcyjne Zakladu Medycyny Sadowej w Bialymstoku w latach 1955-2009.

The authors performed an analysis of the causes of deaths of newborns with special emphasis placed on cases when neonaticide was suspected. In the discussed period, 17838 medico-legal autopsies were performed, 124 of them (0.695 per cent of all postmortem examinations) involved children who meet the WHO criteria for newborn - children under 28th day of life. The newborns were divided into two groups according to their exact age at the time of death - newborns who died within a short time after birth and newborns who died after the perinatal period. Their sex, body length and body weight were also taken into consideration. A total of 108 autopsies (87.1 per cent of all autopsied newborns) involved cases of suspected criminal infanticide within the first score of hours postnatally. In the majority of these cases, the cause of death was suffocation, rarely mechanical trauma. The case of death of older newborns was broadly understood trauma.

[Opinionating in cases referring to estimation of ability to participate in legal proceedings and estimation of ability to serve a sentence of imprisonment or restriction of freedom in the material of Department of Forensic Medicine in Bialystok in the years 2005-2009]. / Opiniowanie w sprawach dotyczacych oceny zdolnosci do udzialu w czynnosciach procesowych oraz oceny zdolnosci do odbywania kary pozbawienia lub ograniczenia wolnosci w materiale Zakladu Medycyny Sadowej w Bialymstoku w latach 2005-2009.

In the last years in Poland, the number of medicolegal opinions issued concerning the health status of defendants or convicts with regard to their ability to participate in legal proceedings (taking part in trial) and serve a sentence of imprisonment or restriction of freedom (doing free social labor) has been increasing. In the years 2005-2009, in our department, 115 opinions about defendants, convicts, one witness and one sufferer were issued. In this number, 37 opinions were associated with estimation of ability to serve a sentence of imprisonment, 22--estimation of ability to serve a penalty of restricted liberty or possibility of alternative serving a sentence of imprisonment, 56--estimation of ability to take part in legal proceedings. In 8 cases the experts estimated if the health status allowed a defendant to be detained awaiting trial and be detained in custody pending inquiry. The age, sex, place of residence, diseases the opinioned persons suffered from and the judicial organ that commissioned the opinion were taken into consideration in the analysis. The opinions were issued on the basis of court files and medical documentation only--18 opinions, or on the basis of court files, documentation and medical examination--97 opinions. In 52 cases, only specialists of forensic medicine issued the opinions, but in 63 instances, participation of experts in other medical specialties was necessary. Most often, the opinions of cardiologists were sought.

[The Polish helicopter crash in Belarus--an analysis of the accident]. / Wypadek polskiego smiglowca na Bialorusi--analiza zdarzenia.

The subject of analysis was the crash of a helicopter of the Polish Border Guards, which happened on October 31, 2009, in the Byelorussian territory about two hundred meters from the Polish border. In the accident, three crew members perished: the pilot, navigator and operator. Based on the accounts obtained directly after the crash on the site of the tragedy, it was established that the pilot tried to land, but the impact was so strong that the aircraft sank about one meter into the ground. On November 3, 2009, a committee consisting of two prosecutors from the County Prosecutor Office in Bialystok, a forensic science expert and a representative from the Border Guards, went to Department of Forensic Medicine in Brzesc. The prosecutors and forensic science expert took part in recovering the bodies. During the process of internal and external examination, severe body injuries were noted, without any surviving tissue and intestines. Samples of blood, urine and fragments of internal organs were collected for chemical, biochemical, toxicological and histopathological examinations. Muscle DNA was also taken.

[Posttraumatic cerebrasthenia and posttraumatic encephalopathy--difficulties in opinionating]. / Cerebrastenia pourazowa i encefalopatia pourazowa-- trudnosci opiniodawcze.

Post-traumatic cerebrasthenia and post-traumatic encephalopathy are the effects of a head trauma. Most physicians overuse these diagnoses. They do not perform differential diagnostic management, what leads to issuing erroneous opinions. The aim of this report is to show the symptoms of posttraumatic cerebrasthenia and posttraumatic encephalopathy and diagnostic investigations, which could be helpful for diagnosing these conditions. Cerebrasthenia (the subjective posttraumatic syndrome, subjective syndrome, posttraumatic neurosis) is usually a functional--"unorganic" disorder. It happens in the cases of many people who had brain concussion. The most common symptoms are: headache, vertigo, irritability, insomnia, attention deficits, fatigability. Posttraumatic encephalopathy is a persistent brain tissues injury which could be caused by more severe trauma (brain contusion, endocranial bleeding). The clinical picture of this disease entity is not unambiguous. The most frequently encountered form is a simple (common) form, which is similar to cerebrasthenia, but with differences in the neurological examination (focal signs) and with persistent changes in EEG.