Search

The authors treat questions involving post-mortem examinations and autopsies, as regulated in the "Order Pertaining to Post-mortem Medical Examinations" in the former GDR. The administrative autopsy is of special importance in this respect. This regulation, which has been demanded by German physicians for more than a century and has existed for a long time in Austria (1857), should finally be introduced in the Federal Republic of Germany as well. It should at least be retained in the new Federal States. In the field of alcohol-related traffic law, the authors advocate a reduction of the blood-alcohol limit throughout Germany, even if the zero limit in the former GDR does not appear to be implementable. The time-tested regulations applying to organ graftings are presented as the third topic. In the GDR there was a uniform order based on the right to object.

Using the Periodontal Disease Index and the Oral Hygiene Index, the authors determined the periodontal and oral hygiene conditions of 3853 individuals (18 to 100 years of age) selected at random from the Berlin population 67% of these individuals presented with periodontal disease; 10% were threatened by periodontal disease. The symptom "tooth loosening" was stated in 18%. The mean PDI was 2.93. The mean plaque incidence (index according to Quingley and Hein) amounted to 1.4 in subjects without periodontal disease, and to 2.2 in periodontally diseased individuals. The means supragingival calculus -- subgingival calculus ratio (index according to King) in these groups was 0.53 and 0.85, respectively.

14 persons ate from a country smoked ham in which botulin was found. From this group, two had complaints which suggested a nonspecific food poisoning; two persons died. Of the dead, clinical symptoms of a botulinus intoxication could be ascertained from other people. In one case, botulinus toxin could be demonstrated in the blood, in the other the botulinus toxin was identified on forensic examination in suspensions of the preserved organ and body fluids, in spite of advanced putrefaction. Histological examination of the brain and of the cerebral and peripheral nerves provided no clear indication of the primary disease.