Journal de recherche médico-légale

Quantitative Research in Modern Forensic Analysis of Death Cause: New Classification of Death Cause, Degree of Contribution, and Determination of Manner of Death

Abstract

Xiaojun Yu, Haipeng Wang, Long Feng and Jiazhen Zhu

In practice of the forensic pathology, many scholars have been keenly aware that the classification of death cause in International Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD) could not contain and explain the all situations of multiple factors leading to death. Additionally, there remain some viewpoints to be discussed about the traditional rules and method of degree of contribution and manner of death (MOD). To solve the new growing problems in forensic examination and criminal investigation, the quantitative method was introduced into the legal medicine. Firstly, the classification method of death causes was further perfected on the basis of the traditional theory in WHOICD (10). And all factors related to death had been divided into eight kinds of death causes and given the definitions and degrees of contribution, according to their quantitative effects in death mechanism. Moreover, authors suggested that the more accurate definition of MOD based on above principle should be adopted for the determination of MOD conveniently. Years of our successful experiences, especially for the cases involved in the multiple factors, have shown that the principle should be considered as the scientific basis to comprehend correctly the causality of the factors related to death, and to provide the more scientific and quantitative evidences for the court trial and civil compensation.