Radiology in the witness box: manipulation or clarification?

Abstract

Post-mortem imaging especially CT scanning has become common practice in medico-legal death investigation. Inevitably these images are being used in court proceedings. How the content of those images should be presented to court is uncertain notwithstanding the ability to so-called post-process the data to produce 3-D reconstructions and the like. This requires the input of a specialist to view the images and highlight the salient features; a process the courts initially found difficult with photography but which is now generally accepted since the introduction of digital photography. To a greater extent post-mortem CT images can be altered to show with greater clarity the postulated areas of interest for the benefit of the court. Clearly, safeguards must be in place to prevent unscrupulous or overzealous manipulation although in reality at this time there would seem to be an unfair advantage in the use of such imagery by the often better resourced Crown.