The right to mourn: Post-traumatic stress and the forensic pathologist

Abstract

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a condition characterised by recurrent intrusive distressing memories of a traumatic event(s) with recurrent dreams and flashbacks. Given the nature of standard forensic pathology practice which involves on-going assessments of violent crimes and their sequelae with autopsy dissections of victims and in detail study of injuries, it is surprising that more has not been written on this in the literature. Perhaps PTSD should be studied further in a forensic context with a recognition that years of intimate exposure to violence may lead to accumulated, ongoing and unresolved grief in practitioners.