Real-Life Communication -- Solution
After reviewing the findings from your examination, along with this
current medical report on SIDS, you prepare a report to submit to the coroner.
Report
As
with most SIDS victims, this child was a male, between the ages of two months
and one year. The majority of SIDS victims are under six months old and are
more likely to be male than female.
SIDS is the sudden, unexplained
death of an infant. While experts believe there is no single cause of SIDS,
they feel it may be caused by an abnormality in breathing and heart rate.
This
infant exhibited what are thought to be some minor symptoms of SIDS -- cold-like
symptoms -- and his weight was below average for his age, possibly indicating
recent weight loss. However, like most parents of babies who die of SIDS,
these parents saw no evidence that their child was gravely ill.
Like
most victims of SIDS, this infant died between the hours of midnight and 9
a.m.
My observation of this particular case, in combination with current
medical research on SIDS, leads me to conclude that this child was typical
of the majority of SIDS victims.
Communication is an
important skill when you're a forensic pathologist, says Paul Hoyer,
a pathologist in private practice.
"You've got to
be able to talk to the police and write up a decent report," Hoyer says. "And
you have to express yourself well in court, and sometimes you'll even
need to talk to the family of the person who died."