Forensic Pathology of Infancy and Childhood

The investigation of sudden or unexplained death of children represents a unique medical and forensic area of study. Children are not simply small versions of adults. They have unique anatomic and functional characteristics that must be recognized and understood by the medical investigator. Further complicating this process is the fact that the anatomic structure, composition, and function of various organs and organ systems in the pediatric population change throughout the developmental stages of childhood. The disease processes, reactions to trauma, and risk factors for accidental death and homicide change from infancy through adolescence. There are many texts devoted to the medical investigation of child abuse in living children. And there are several excellent texts on general forensic pathology. There are outstanding reference texts on pediatric pathology that concentrate on the pathologic diagnosis of natural disease processes in living children. At present, there is no well known, thorough reference text devoted to the medicolegal investigation of sudden unexpected death in children. Further, there is no widely accepted text dealing with the changes in fatal diseases, risk factors of causes of sudden death, and responses to fatal trauma that occur as a child grows. We propose a text devoted to the medicolegal investigation of sudden and unexpected childhood death. We will organize the text based on chronological age. The text will begin with the newborn age, progress through infancy, toddlerhood, childhood, and conclude with adolescence. Through each major age group, individual chapters will focus on specific unique causes, topics, or organ systems. This text will be a unique contribution to the forensic science literature. This text will fill a niche that medicolegal death investigators are anxious to have provided. Potential purchasers of this text include forensic pathologists, medical examiner offices, pediatric pathologists, pediatric hospitals, anatomic pathologists, coroners, law enforcement investigators, pathology training programs, medical schools, child protection social workers and offices, colleges of social work, colleges of criminal justice administration, and colleges of forensic sciences.

Professor Roger Byard is currently working as the Chief Forensic Pathologist at Forensic Science SA in Adelaide, Australia, and also holds Clinical Professorship with the Department of Pathology and the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Adelaide. He is a Consultant Pediatric Forensic Pathologist with the Child Protection Unit at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide and a Pediatric Pathologist. Professor Byard qualified in medicine in Australia in 1978 (University of Tasmania MBBS, BMedSci) and became a licentiate of the Medical Council of Canada in 1982 (LMCC). He holds fellowships in Anatomical Pathology in Canada (FRCPC), the United Kingdom (FRCPath) and the United States (FCAP), and is a Certificant in Family Medicine with the Canadian College of Family Physicians (CCFP). He was a foundation member of the Australian College of Legal Medicine (MACLM) and is a member of both the National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME) and the Society for Pediatric Pathology (SPP) in the United States. He has two higher degrees from the University of Adelaide on aspects of pediatric forensic medicine and pathology (MMedSci-Pediatr, MD). In 2004, he was awarded a Public Service Medal for ‘outstanding public service to pediatric pathology’ and in that year, he was also awarded a medal by the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia for his expertise and efforts following the Bali bombing tragedy. He has a specific interest in sudden infant and childhood death and has published, or has in press, over 300 papers in peer-reviewed journals and 41 chapters in 14 textbooks many of which deal with infant and childhood death. He has also presented or coauthored over 300 papers that have been presented at national and international meetings. He has authored a text entitled ‘Sudden Death in Infancy, Childhood and Adolescence’, which has been described as the ‘current international benchmark in the subject’, and has co-edited a second text entitled ‘Sudden Infant Death Syndrome – Problems, Progress and Possibilities’. He is also currently co-editing an Encyclopedia of Forensic and Legal Medicine and serves on the editorial board of three international forensic and pathology journals. He has an interest in ‘Preventative Pathology’ and coordinates childhood accident prevention through ‘The Keeping your Baby and Child Safe Program’ in South Australia. He has also coordinated workshops on paediatric forensic pathology and medicine in a number of countries in Europe, North America, Africa and Asia. Dr. Kim Collins – From 1995-2008, Dr. Collins was on the faculty at the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, as professor in pathology and laboratory medicine, director of autopsy and forensic pathology, and co-director of the pathology education division of the medical and dental schools. She was the recipient of numerous teaching awards from medical and dental students. Dr. Collins now works with the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office in Atlanta, Georgia. In addition to the active involvement in the CAP Spokesperson Network, Dr. Collins serves as a member on the Public Affairs Committee, an advisor to and immediate past chair of the Autopsy Committee, and a CAP Fellow Member delegate to the CAP House of Delegates. Other professional membership activities include serving as the South Carolina liaison to the National Association of Medical Examiners, American Academy of Forensic Sciences, past president of the South Carolina Society of Pathologists, and member of the Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation Medical Examiner/Coroner Advisory Committee. After receiving her BS in microbiology, magna cum laude Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Georgia, Athens, Dr. Collins earned her MD from the Medical College of Georgia, Augusta. She completed her residency in anatomic and clinical pathology at North Carolina Baptist Hospital, Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, followed by a fellowsh