orcement authority. An example of this type of medico-legal system is the Procurator Fiscal medico-legal system in Scotland.
The elements of the medico-legal system that involve the determination and certification of causes of death should be the first line of defence in preventing concealed homicide. Laxity in this area of the medico-legal system creates an environment wherein concealed homicide becomes feasible option. This condition holds whether the laxity is in policy, procedures, application, or some combination thereof.
The elements of the medico-legal system that involve authorization for the disposition of bodies are important because the destruction of bodies through cremation can (and frequently does) destroy the evidence required to ascertain the true cause of death. While not necessarily as destructive of the evidence required to establish the true cause of death, burial involving embalming, at the very least, causes such determinations to be both more difficult and problematic.
This study begins with a brief review of the cr
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