ABSTRACT
Forensic medicine, whether applied to humans or animals, is becoming more important in our modern and litigious society, which is captivated by crime-based television. Medical and legal issues are increasingly coalescing in both civil and criminal matters, increasing the challenge to provide forensic expertise in a myriad of areas. A forensic veterinarian in many instances is the conduit for information across multiple veterinary specialties, as well as professions. Human forensic medicine history goes back well over 1000 years, with some of the earliest records originating from China. Islamic medicine applied forensic approaches to investigate disease and causes of death going back hundreds of years. A forensic veterinary practitioner is much like the pathologist in Spilsbury's time, or at least it seems so in the author's experience. Forensic science as applied to human crime investigation is very specialized, and the related sciences extend well beyond the pathologist.
