| Practice and Education in Forensic Radiology in Australia |
Dr. Chris O’Donnell
Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine |
Summary:
Australia comprises 6 states and 2 territories. Each has its own Crime and Coroners Acts that govern the processes by which medico-legal death investigation is undertaken. As part of those processes, post-mortem radiography (dental and skeletal radiographs) has been a standard technique for many years. In April of 2005, a mortuary-based CT scanner was installed at VIFM in Melbourne Victoria, being one of the first such facilities in the world. Since that time further mortuary-based CT scanners have been installed in Queensland (Brisbane) and New South Wales (Newcastle and Sydney). Other forensic facilities within these and other states i.e. Sth. Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia having access to CT scanners for postmortem imaging in adjacent medical facilities.
This talk will examine the integration of post-mortem CT (PMCT) into the death investigation process in Victoria, the training of forensic pathologists to read PMCT as part of the so-called preliminary examination as defined by the Coroners Act 2008, the provision of a short course in PMCT interpretation through Monash University, the formation of FRANZ (Forensic Radiology in Australia New Zealand) and the planned staging of the annual scientific meeting of the International Society of Forensic Radiology and Imaging (ISFRI) 2018 in Melbourne. The use of medical audit and ongoing education for pathologists will also be discussed, as will the concept of post-mortem imaging as a new medical subspecialty.
PMCT is now routine at VIFM and the preferred model in Australia for integration into medico-legal death investigation. As predicted in 2008, most major forensics centres around the world have access to CT facilities or are planning the installation of machines into their own mortuaries. It is incumbent on those organizations to put in place protocols of imaging and strategies for utilization of the CT data sets.
Reference: O'Donnell C, Woodford N. Post-mortem radiology - a new sub-speciality? Clin Radiol. (2008) 63:1189-94 |
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