Death Investigation: A Field Guide, Second Edition is updated and expanded to include a chronological analysis of the death scene investigative process from the first notification to the autopsy and final report. This book is written for the standpoints of a forensic pathologist and a forensic toxicologist emphasizing essential elements of the death investigation and how the results impact the final cause and manner of death. Topics discussed include how to assess the body at the scene and how to properly investigate natural and unnatural deaths. The book discusses various means and causes of deaths, demonstrating how death manifests in various parts of the body. A section on traumatic injuries examines and illustrates with color photographs blunt force, sharp force, gunshot wounds, and a host of other injuries that the investigator is likely to confront. Natural death conditions and disease are discussed in a separate chapter devoted to the most common manner of death. The Second Edition is fully updated with new added sections which cover forensic toxicology, statutory responsibilities, documentation and photography of the scene, DNA identification and possible contamination issues, decomposition, managing and utilizing electronic medical records, anaphylaxis and allergic reactions, infectious diseases such as Covid-19, acute peritonitis, and more. Despite including over 200 full-color photos, the book retains a succinct, handy format that is invaluable to those facing, and tasked with investigating, the reality of death on a day-to-day basis. Death Investigation: A Field Guide, Second Edition continues to serve as an invaluable resource for Crime Scene Investigators (CSIs), coroners, Medical Death Investigators (MDI), and medical examiner professionals.

In keeping with the spirit of the first edition, the second edition of this book displays the autopsy procedure in a step-wise, start-to-finish fashion. While the autopsy itself has changed little over the last 100 years, the adjunct procedures-toxicology, radiology, and DNA analysis, among others-have changed greatly. Original chapters are fully updated and modified to reflect changes in the last 15 years. Additionally, two new chapters have been added on natural death and organ/tissue donation.