Book reviews: August 2023

7th edition

Whitwell, Thorne, Kolar and Harvey 

PUBLISHER: BLOOMSBURY
ISBN: 978-1526521323
Price: £130 (E-BOOK £117)

The first edition of this book appeared in 1978, when the late Emeritus Professor of Forensic Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, John Kenyon Mason found that while “forensic medicine should be taught to medical students… paradoxically, it was the law students who, in having to decipher and understand the reports of their expert medical witnesses, needed the greatest exposure to the details of pathology despite the fact that they had no medical background”. Despite searching, he “could find no textbook extant which would satisfy their particular needs”. His book was “an attempt to fill the gap.” 

Now in its seventh iteration, the torch of learning lit by Professor Mason has been taken up by two barristers from Doughty Street Chambers and two forensic pathologists. They not only carry forth the spirit of the book, to aid understanding of medicine by lawyers, but bring it up to date, reflecting current knowledge and practice. One colleague described this book as an essential in the armamentarium of the advocate. So apt.

Notwithstanding their own experience and knowledge, the authors have engaged a vast array of contributors, distinguished in their own fields. 

Not only does the book provides the lawyer with an accessible and readable narrative of the various disciplines within forensic medicine: it contains a significant number of illustrations which illuminate the area under discussion. 

The opening chapter provides the building blocks for the remainder of the text and focuses on the makeup of the human body, taking the reader through the various systems and anatomy. It then moves on to consider what is death, and the related subject of the autopsy. Here the issues practitioners will come across are discussed, such as the changes within the body following death, aiding such questions as the approximate calculation of time of death. Following a discussion on sudden natural death, the authors turn to consider all manner of areas of forensic medicine: blunt force trauma, ballistics, wounds, asphyxia, heat, fire and electricity. 

The chapter on non-accidental injury on children is particularly helpful. In such cases, much depends on identifying the time of sudden collapse of the child. The authors, through the text and the use of medical illustrations, make abundantly clear the areas the lawyer needs to consider in such cases and ought to lead to a greater degree of clarity by them in the consultation of expert witnesses. 

It might be said that that deals with the issue of forensic medicine. However, the authors provide us with more. Two further sections follow. One deals with the interplay of forensic medicine and the courts, whether at trial or in the fatal accident inquiry. The other deals with a consideration of forensic odontology, toxicology, crime scene analysis (securing the scene is fundamental to a thorough investigation), and forensic psychiatry. The latter chapter is quite simply superb, providing the novice with an introduction to the distinct disciplines of psychiatry and psychology, how an assessment is made, and the form of the psychiatric report the lawyer will read, before turning to a consideration of mental illness and its classification. Finally, there is consideration of the interaction of mental health and the criminal law, from unfitness to plead to the statutory defences. 

There are two further strengths of the book worth mentioning. First, the authors write, where appropriate, on the differences on approach between England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Secondly, at the end of each chapter there is a list of suggested further reading. 

When originally published the book was groundbreaking. It not only filled the gap identified by Professor Mason then, but has remained the pre-eminent forensic medicine textbook for generations of lawyers. This latest edition maintains the high standards of clarity and insight established by Professor Mason. As updated, it simply cannot be bettered as a rich source of invaluable guidance for lawyers in the sometimes complex area of forensic medicine. 

David J Dickson, solicitor advocate