Forensic Diatomology and Drowning

The postmortem analysis of drowning is a classical problem in the pathology of sudden violent death.

From a historical perspective, one of the most important issues in the study of drowning has been the search for a sensitive, specific, and easily applicable test for this cause of death.

On this basis, the diatom test has emerged as the foremost laboratory procedure for the detection of drowning.

Although the history of the diatom test spans a century, no comprehensive monograph has been published to address the scientific and medicolegal basis of the diatom test.

This book is an attempt to fill this void in the English-language literature.

The motivation and axiom for the diatom test are discussed in chapter 1 which outlines the types of circumstances bodies may be recovered from water.

In chapter 2, drowning is considered in the broader context of rapid anoxial death and the postmortem findings of drowning is discussed.

The medicolegal value and historical development of the diatom test are reviewed in chapter 3, which prepares the foundation for discussion of research on diatoms and drowning using femoral bone marrow (chapter 4). Chapter 4, the utility and validity of the diatom test is analyzed on a quantitative basis.

Chapter 5 describes the laboratory procedures for extraction of diatoms from human tissues and presents guidelines for interpreting the diatom test in forensic casework.

The various investigative applications of the diatom test are presented in chapter 6, with specific reference to the role of the diatom test in homicidal drowning.

The final chapter, which forms a photomicrophic atlas of freshwater diatoms, will serve to guide forensic practitioners who are interested in performing forensic diatom analysis.

The text is followed by a selected bibliography which includes references that may not have been cited in the main text.