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The Federal Ministry of Justice has presented another proposal to rephrase the wording of Section 87 of the German Code of Criminal Procedure (StPO). The new version of Section 87 StPO is to be rejected as it would lead to a loss of institutional and professional standards. The bill is clearly influenced by a tendency towards privatisation for the benefit of a small group of specialists in forensic medicine mostly organised in limited liability companies and thus at the expense of institutes of legal medicine affiliated to universities or physicians working in the forensic service of regional courts. In the long run, this reform would not only jeopardize medicolegal research and teaching but also medical education and specialist medical training. For future severe negative consequences would have to be expected on the rule of law and legal certainty.

The German Federal Ministry of Justice has presented a proposal to amend Section 87 subs. 2 of the German Code of Criminal Procedure (StPO). In the reasons for the bill, the priority of the institutional forensic medicine is emphasized. While parts of the revised version are appreciated, some changes are considered necessary in order to take the special features of the German states into account.

Section 87 subs. 2 of the German Code of Criminal Procedure stipulates that a forensic or court-ordered autopsy shall be performed by two physicians. One of them must be a "forensic medical officer" (in German "Gerichtsarzt") or the head of a public forensic or pathology institute or a physician of such an institute entrusted with this task and having specialist knowledge of forensic medicine. Recently, it has been suggested to amend Section 87 subs. 2 StPO to the effect that self-employed specialists in forensic medicine can also be entrusted with court-ordered autopsies. The authors object to such privatization of forensic autopsies for legal and factual reasons and recommend to keep the present regulation according to which one of the physicians conducting the autopsy is not only required to have the necessary professional qualification, but must also hold a public position as defined in the law.

Testicular sections of 50 deceased drug addicts were examined by light microscopy using morphometric methods and determining the extent of spermatogenesis by application of the Johnsen score count. Twenty cases of violent death served as reference sample. The study was aimed at obtaining data about the degree of germinal gland damage following the duration of the individual drug career, which was correlated to the histologic findings. Progressively reduced maturation of germinal cells, decrease of tubular diameter and height of sperm-producing epithelium were found the longer the individual case history has been. The results clearly indicated a substantial impairment of male fertility in the course of a drug career, but etiology seems to be multifactorial, since most of the deceased were polytoxicomanic and more than 40% were under the influence of alcohol at the time of death. Testicular damage is obviously a sequel of long-lasting abuse and a very complex process, presumably progressing with the duration of the adverse habit.

Forensic entomology (FE) is increasingly gaining international recognition. In Germany, however, the development of FE has been stagnating, mainly because of the lack of cooperation between police, forensic medicine and entomology. In 1997 a co-operative research project 'Forensic Entomology' was started in Frankfurt/Main at the Center of Legal Medicine and the Research Institute Senckenberg. The aim of this project is to establish FE in Germany as a firmly integrated component of the securing of evidence from human cadavers in cases of suspected homicide. For this purpose we developed a forensic insect collecting kit, and policemen are educated for greater acceptance and better application of FE. The scientific programme focuses on the investigation of the insect succession on cadavers in urban and rural habitats. This also includes new indicator groups (e.g. parasitic wasps) for a more precise calculation of the late post mortem interval. Recently a DNA-based reliable and fast identification method especially for the immature stages of necrophagous insects became part of the project. Preliminary results are reported and two case studies presented.

During the last 13 years (1968-1980), 427 radiographic examinations were carried out during the course of medico-legal autopsies at the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the Free University of Berlin. Important problems were the demonstration of retained foreign bodies resulting from shooting, stabbing or blunt trauma, bone injuries, identification, and the question of life in neonates. An historical survey is given and 12 cases with special forensic problems are illustrated and discussed, and further means of investigation are described.

Abstract: The reason for blunt forces against the head to rupture the basal brain arteries has been discussed in forensic and trauma research. However, well-documented case reports demonstrating the mechanism of injury, the clinical course and the forensic work up are rare. We present the case of a 40-year-old man, who was assaulted with blunt force to the head resulting in death 34h later from a longitudinal rupture of the distal left vertebral artery. Computer tomography of the brain and the face demonstrated a basal subarachnoidal haemorrhage, signs of increased intracranial pressure and a fracture of the right orbital bone. Angiography showed a long fusiform dilatation of both intracranial vertebral arteries with an active pseudoaneurysm on the left side. At autopsy signs of a blunt trauma to the head, extensive basal subarachnoidal haemorrhage and a minor subdural haemorrhage were found. Histological examination revealed a transmural longitudinal rupture of the left vertebral artery with vital reaction and no signs of preexisting vascular disease. We discuss the current literature regarding traumatic basal brain artery rupture, important clinical decision making processes as well as pitfalls in the forensic work up. In addition, this singular well-documented case gives new insights in the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms of traumatic basal artery rupture. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]