Biomedical subjects
J K Mason
Publications and source records attributed to J K Mason.
A fundamental problem of consent. GMC may not be entitled to conclude that assault occurred.
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Building the team during consolidation.
It has been said that change is the only constant, and that certainly holds true for health care settings in the 1990s. Consolidation of two hospitals is one such change. To be successful, the organization and its managers must deal with these changes in a proactive, positive, opportunity-seeking way. Fostering positive relationships with others in the work setting is as important as the fine tuning of clinical skills.
Neurological sequelae of the operation "baby lift" airplane disaster.
The aircraft disaster of the first flight of Operation "Baby Lift", which departed from Saigon, Vietnam, April 4, 1975, was survived by 149 orphaned children on their way to adoptive homes in the West. It had 157 passenger fatalities. The aircraft disaster exposed the surviving children to a complex disaster environment in which subatmospheric decompression, hypoxia, and deceleration were experienced, many children suffered a transient unconsciousness. We examined 135 surviving children between 1978 and 1985. The U.S. resident children were examined in the years 1979 to 1982 at an average age of 8 years and 6 months. They displayed the following symptomatology: attention deficit (> 75%), hyperactivity (> 65%), impulse disorder (> 55%), learning disabilities (> 35%), speech and language pathology (> 70%), and soft neurological signs (> 75%). The European children were examined in the years 1983 to 1985. On arrival at the adoptive home, 2 weeks after the accident they displayed the following symptomatology: muscle hypotonia (26%), seizures (2.5%), and regressed developmental milestones (33%). At the time of the diagnostic evaluations (1983 to 1985) the average age was 11 years and 8 months. They displayed the following symptomatology: attention deficit (59%), hyperactivity (52%), impulse disorder (48%), learning disabilities (43%), soft neurological signs (43%), epilepsy (16%), and speech and language pathology (34%). We conclude that a complex disaster environment can cause brain damage in children without prolonged unconsciousness, and that victims of disasters require a thorough evaluation from a multidisciplinary team.
The legal threat to medicine reconsidered.
The paper is concerned, in the main, with selective non-treatment of those incapable of making treatment decisions of their own. It draws attention to the conflict between the law and the medical profession in this field which was predicted some ten years ago and traces the British case law from then until the present day. It concludes that there is no such legal threat to medical practice in Great Britain and that any doubtful practices are currently controlled through the concept of the health care team.
Recording HIV status on police computers.
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Special medicolegal considerations in pediatric pathology.
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Experiments on human beings.
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Parental choice and selective non-treatment of deformed newborns: a view from mid-Atlantic.
This paper traces the development of parental rights to accept or to refuse treatment for a defective newborn infant in the United Kingdom and in the United States of America; its main purpose is to explore the common trends from which an acceptable policy may be derived. It is probable that the British law on parental decision-making in respect of infants suffering from Down's syndrome is to be found in the civil case of In Re B rather than in the criminal case of R v Arthur. United States court decisions are strongly influenced by constitutional law and reflect the right to personal privacy. The position on each side of the Atlantic seems very similar but this similarity includes a sense of uncertainty as to legal responsibility. There is a case for agreed guidelines and a suggested format is offered for consideration.
Expert evidence in the adversarial system of criminal justice.
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The importance of autopsy in major disasters.
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The importance of autopsy examination in major disasters.
It is appreciated that there are national and jurisdictional variations in regard to post-mortem dissections following accidental death. The purpose of this paper is to plead that, since there will be nationals of many states involved in an aircraft disaster, there should be a uniform system of forensic investigation on a world wide basis. The justification for this recommendation is illustrated through the investigation of accident causes and through the solution of the many problems relating to the settlement of probate which arise in accidental death. The causes of accidents which may be discovered by autopsy include crew incapacitation and criminality of all types. The emergency status may also be revealed and the type of accident, particularly whether in a controlled or uncontrolled phase, may become clear. The medico-legal problems to be resolved include those concerning payment of insurance policies, including the degree of life expectancy, and especially the disposal of estates when members of a family apparently die together. The resulting payments to beneficiaries may be quite different depending on the quality of the autopsy. These investigations are complementary to, and do not interfere with, the identification process but they are time consuming and expensive.
Coroners from across the border.
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Non-accidental injury to children: a survey of professional attitudes.
A small sample of general practitioners was questioned about non-accidental injury to children. Differences emerged between those qualifying before and after 1960. Differences were also found in management between the general practitioners and other workers in this field, health visitors, social workers and the police. The need to include this subject in the continuing education of general practitioners is stressed.
Occurrence of pulmonary fat and bone marrow embolism.
The lungs of 136 persons dying as a result of road traffic accidents were studied retrospectively for the presence of fat and bone marrow emboli. Comparable investigations were made in 54 cases of acute myocardial failure reported to the medicolegal authorities and in 50 cases of fatal drug overdose. A further 50 cases of myocardial failure dying in hospital were studied for the presence of bone marrow embolism only. It was considered that despite occurrence of an occasional anomalous case, both fat and bone marrow emboli are related to injury but that the incidence and severity of bone marrow embolism in particular depends greatly upon the conditions of the accidental death. The occurrence of pulmonary embolic phenomena in cases of natural death was attributed to resuscitative measures rather than the underlying condition. The results indicated that the medicolegal significance attached to the findings should, by themselves, be limited to the positive identification of injuries sustained before or at the time of death in the individual case.