Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to G Dankwarth.
In 1989 accidental death of 72 persons with an age of at least 60 years were determined at the Institute for Legal Medicine in Hamburg. 41 of them (57%) died by traffic accident. In those cases 18 of them died from pneumonia or embolism of lung as a result to be laid low. The causal connection and phenomenoms of those complications are described and problems of medicine, social-security payment and insurance benefit of the elder age are discussed.
In 1991 the brains of 15 persons with an age of at least 60 years and without neurologic or psychiatric disorders were investigated prospectively. Different brain-areas (topographically exactly defined) were investigated for so-called brain-aging. Only the frequency of corpora amylacea and primitive senile plaques showed a tendency to increase in the elderly. A defined correlation to the calendaric age could not be stated.
This study reports on the relationships between the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) and the cause of death - which is of course common knowledge for forensic scientists! Our special aim was to gain unselected data for generalizing conclusions. The blood of 2465 consecutive cases (86% of all 2852 sudden unexpected and unnatural fatalities investigated at the Institute for Legal Medicine in Hamburg during the year 1989) was analysed. The BAC was evaluated according to sex, age, cause of death and place of death. In natural causes of death there were 80% cases under 0.05% BAC. Endocrine and digestive system diseases in particular were associated with positive BAC values. In unnatural death cases the BAC under 0.05% was found in 64% of the suicides, 62% of the accidents, 54% of the homicides and 51% of the drug intoxications. The drowning cases showed higher BAC's than traffic accidents. In suicides middle aged males had high BAC's.
In 1989, the blood-alcohol-concentration of 1545 elderly persons with an age of at least 60 years, who died suddenly or not of natural causes, was determined at the Institute for Legal Medicine in Hamburg. 238 autopsies were performed. In a total of 143, in 55 subjects of the autopsy series, a blood-alcohol-concentration over 0.05% was found. With growing age the number of positive blood-alcohol-analyses decreased. Twenty-two of the autopsied persons (40%) did not die of natural causes; among them were 11 accidents. Alcohol played a significant role in the fatal course of 8 cases; 15 subjects included in the autopsy series (27.3%) had been alcoholics. Preexisting cardiovascular and respiratory disease was diagnosed in most cases of natural death. The causal connection of alcohol, disease, and cause of death in the elderly is discussed.
From 1970 to 1990, 55 homicides (including 15 attempted cases) among the elderly (60 years and older) were investigated by the criminal police in Essen, FRG. Forty victims were autopsied at the Institute for Legal Medicine in Essen. Epidemiology with regard to age (mean 72 years), sex (25 males, 30 females), method (primarily use of a blunt object, followed by stabbing and strangulation), and motive (robbery in more than 50% of occurrences) of crime, and psychosociological aspects of victims and offenders are described. The forensic responsibility of geriatric delinquents and the correlation between crime and psychical irregularity in the elderly are discussed.
Within the period 1980-1989, 330 suicides in the age-group over 60 years were investigated by the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Essen, FRG. Epidemiology with regard to age and sex, seasonal fluctuations in the frequency of suicides, methods of suicide, pathomorphological findings and psychological irregularities are described. Theories concerning the motives of suicides, psychosociological aspects and the present conditions of life and of supply in the older generation are discussed.