Rechtsmedizin最新文献

Background: Inadequate quality of medical postmortem examinations has been discussed in the forensic medical literature for many years. It is known that older deceased persons are less likely to have a non-natural cause of death certified and autopsies are performed less frequently compared to younger deceased persons.

Methods: Death certificates of all deaths that occurred in Munich with an age of ≥ 75 years during the death period 01/01/2013-31/12/2014 were analyzed. Standardized, anonymized data entry was performed. The collected data were analyzed descriptively.

Results: A total of 26,303 persons died during the study period. Of these deaths, 16,146 (60.7%) were ≥ 75 years. Most common places of death for the aged were hospital (56.1%), private address (21.8%), and nursing home (20.0%). A natural mode of death was reported in 88.5%, unexplained in 8.8%, and non-natural in 2.7%. Most common immediate causes of death were diseases of the circulatory system (23.5%), inaccurately designated or unknown causes of death (20.0%), and diseases of the respiratory system (16.3%). Autopsies were performed on 4.9%, largely judicial. The parameters studied showed large differences in the analyses depending on the place of death.

Discussion: This study again shows considerable quality deficiencies in the issuance of death certificates. Despite the dual approach of the Munich health authority (control, training), the quality of death certificates could not be sustainably improved in recent years. Types and causes of death showed partly considerable differences depending on the place of death and the doctor who issued the certificate. The deficits identified in the information provided under the heading "Causes of death" are also likely to have a negative impact on the cause of death statistics.

Background: Since electric scooters were introduced as an urban means of transportation in Hamburg in June 2019, a high number of violations of the current laws regarding alcohol consumption by e‑scooter riders have been recorded.

Objective: The aim of this study is to obtain an overview of traffic offences committed by e‑scooter drivers under the influence of alcohol, to classify their relevance in relation to other road user groups, and to draw a first interim balance with respect to their frequency after 1.5 years.

Material and methods: The data of all e‑scooter drivers (n = 342) examined concerning their blood alcohol values analyzed at the Institute of Legal Medicine of the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf between 15.06.2019 and 31.12.2020 were retrospectively evaluated with respect to their demographic information and the medical examination results. These were brought into context with the total number of offences against the road traffic regulations with subsequent blood alcohol measurement.

Results: 9.6% of the total number of offences against the road traffic regulations in connection with subsequent determination of the blood alcohol concentration were committed by e‑scooter drivers. 87.7% of those examined were male. The blood alcohol concentration was above the limit of 1.10 ‰ for absolute driving incapacity when using a passenger car in 76.9% of those examined. An accumulation of cases was particularly noticeable at night and at weekends.Due to imprecise records, a certain number of unreported e‑scooter incidents can be assumed among the unspecified motor vehicles.

Conclusion: As e‑scooter drivers make up a considerable proportion of drunken road users and the accidents mostly occur at night and at weekends, increased education and, if necessary, a driving ban at these times would seem to make sense.