title: The difficult task of assessing perimortem and postmortem fractures on the skeleton: a blind text on 210 fractures of known origin.
abstract: The distinction between perimortem and postmortem fractures is an important challenge for forensic anthropology. Such a crucial task is presently based on macro-morphological criteria widely accepted in the scientific community. However, several limits affect these parameters which have not yet been investigated thoroughly. This study aims at highlighting the pitfalls and errors in evaluating perimortem or postmortem fractures. Two trained forensic anthropologists were asked to classify 210 fractures of known origin in four skeletons (three victims of blunt force trauma and one natural death) as perimortem, postmortem, or dubious, twice in 6 months in order to assess intraobserver error also. Results show large errors, ranging from 14.8 to 37% for perimortem fractures and from 5.5 to 14.8% for postmortem ones; more than 80% of errors concerned trabecular bone. This supports the need for more objective and reliable criteria for a correct assessment of peri- and postmortem bone fractures.
authors.affiliation: LABANOF Laboratorio di Antropologia e Odontologia Forense, Sezione di Medicina Legale, Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche per la Salute, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Luigi Mangiagalli 37, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Annalisa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cappella
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Amadasi
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Castoldi
authors.forename: Debora
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mazzarelli
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gaudio
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cattaneo
mesh_terms: D018732:Forensic Anthropology / Q000379:methods*; D050723:Fractures, Bone / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D015588:Observer Variation; D011180:Postmortem Changes
keywords: blunt force trauma; bone fracture; forensic anthropology; forensic science; perimortem; postmortem; taphonomy