MEDICO LEGAL ASPECT OF

DEATH

SPECIAL DEATH
CHAPTER 7
JUDICIAL DEATH

Modern methods in the execution of death

sentences have abandoned inhuman, cruel and
barbarous means. Executions by garroting,
decapitation by means of the guillotine and by
drowning which were common during the
medieval days are no longer practiced. The
statutes of all countries state the legal
procedure for the execution of death penalties.
The constitution, like that of the Philippines,
imposes certain limitations to the law-making
body as to the method to be established.
Death by Barbarous means
Constitutional Provision against Cruelty
Art. Ill, Sec. 1, Par. 19, of the Philippine Constitution provides
that "cruel and unusual punishment shall not be inflicted." The
wait for the provision of the new constitution punishment prohibited
must not only be cruel but also unusual or vice versa.
Banishment may be unusual but not cruel and therefore valid.
Death penalty is not cruel and unusual whether it be by hanging,
shooting, or electrocution (Legarda v. Valdez, 1 Phil 146).
Punishments are cruel when they involved torture or a lingering
death, but the punishment of death is not cruel because it is not
barbarous and inhuman.
The purpose of the guaranty by the constitution is to eliminate
many inhuman and uncivilized punishments formerly known,
the infliction of which tend to barbarize present civilization
(McElvaine v. Brush, 142 U.S. 155).
Death Penalty:
1. Arguments in Favor of the Death Penalty:

(1) It is the only method of eliminating the hopeless enemy

of society — Escape from prison, commutation of sentence
and pardon are ways that criminals, helped by their friends,
escaped life imprisonment.
(2) It deters potential criminals as no other form of punishment
does.
(3) Its brutalizing effect is an unproven assumption. — It is
contended that if capital punishment is properly carried
out, instead of brutalizing society, it satisfies the sense of
justice and provides social satisfaction and a sense of protection.
Death Penalty:
1. Arguments in Favor of the Death Penalty:

• (4) It is the only means whereby society is relieved of the

• support for those who continually war upon it. Society
• will be relieved of- expenses of maintaining the irreformable
• criminals who prey upon it.
• (5) It is a positive selective agency to wipe out the stock of
• irreformable criminals — Killing the hopeless criminals will
• eliminate some of the degenerated stock of society.
Death Penalty:
2. Arguments Against Death Penalty:
(1) It is an irreversible penalty. — Mistaken judgments as to
• guilt can no longer be remedied.
(2) It is not reformative. — Capital punishment indicates
impossibility
of reformation of offenders. No one is incorrigible
• sociologically.
(3) Capital punishment is not a deterrent in effect. — There is
• no country where death penalty is imposed and criminality,
• diminished.
2. Arguments Against Death Penalty:
(4) Capital punishment diminished the certainty of punishment.
— It is a common experience that the court will not convict
a person when the penalty to be imposed is death. If capital
punishment is done away entirely, the court is more likely
to convict and thus society is protected in greater measure.
(5) Capital punishment violates humanitarian sentiments. —
Men can take a life in self-defense or in the heat of passion,
and have a relieving sense of justification, but to take in
cold blood the life of a prisoner causes all the humanitarian
sentiments developed in thousands of years to revolt.
2. Arguments Against Death Penalty:

(6) Capital punishment is retributive — Revengeful acts of

• society is already an out of fashion philosophy. The test
• is to have a corrective approach.
(7) It is a cold-blooded and deliberate kind of murder. — The
executioner has no passion to justify the performance of
his act. It is, however, a question whether a man who pulls
the trap may not feel he is doing a public service that is
even greater than a policeman who shoots a fleeing murderer
• or robber.
 Methods of Judicial Death:
• Death by Electrocution:
Maggie Dela Riva Case
Methods of Judicial Death
Death by Hanging
Methods of Judicial Death
Death by Hanging (Affected Organs)
Methods of Judicial Death
Death by Musketry
Methods of Judicial Death
Death by Gas Chamber :
Other Methods of Capital Punishment:
Other Methods of Capital Punishment
BEHEADING
Other Methods of Capital Punishment
Crucifixion
Other Methods of Capital Punishment
BEATING
Other Methods of Capital Punishment
Cutting asunder
Other Methods of Capital Punishment
Precipitation from a height
Other Methods of Capital Punishment
Destruction by wild beast
Other Methods of Capital Punishment Skinning
Alive
Other Methods of Capital Punishment
Impaling
Other Methods of Capital Punishment
STONING
Other Methods of Capital Punishment
STRANGLING
Other Methods of Capital Punishment
SMOTHERING
Other Methods of Capital Punishment
DROWNING
EUTHANASIA
Churches
All churches are against
euthanasia because an individual
does not have the full dominion
over his life to the extent
of determining whether or not he
will continue to live. Only
God who created mankind has the
sole right to extinguish it.
Medicine Sociologically
There is no sense in performing The practice of euthanasia is an
euthanasia inasmuch endorsement
as there is no physical pain so or toleration of society to suicide
severe that modern medication and a general approval of crime
available today cannot committed for a benevolent
substantially provide relief. motive
The physician may be mistaken in
the diagnosis of impending
death. Recovery, of the kind
bordering closely on a miracle,
may occur. There is belief in the
saying, "While there is life,
there is hope."
 Types of Euthanasia

1.Active Euthanasia
2. Passive Euthanasia
 Ways of the Performing Euthanasia

• 1. Administration of a lethal dose of poison.

• 2. Overdosage of sedatives, hypnotics or other pain relieving
drugs.
• 3. Injection of air into the blood stream.
• 4. Application of strong electric currents.
• 5. Failure to institute the necessary management procedure
which
• is essential to preserve the life of the patient.
 Who May Perforin Euthanasia
1. The patient himself;

2. The physician, with or without the knowledge and consent of

the patient.

Note: If poison was administered by the physician to the patient

without the knowledge and consent of the patient, then it is
murder. Treachery is inherent to the act of poisoning and treachery
qualifies the killing to murder.
SPECIAL DEATHS
SUICIDE
 Psychological Classification of Suicide

1.First degree
2.Second degree
3.Third degree
4. Suicide under circumstances which suggest a lack
of capacity for intention, as when the person was
psychotic or highly intoxicated from the effects of
drugs, including alcohol.
5. Self-destruction due to self-negligence
6. Justifiable suicide
 Common Methods of Commiting Suicide
• 1. Drugs and poisons — Barbiturates, non-barbiturate sedatives,
• acids and other irritants, carbon monoxide, pesticides and
• herbicides, other organic and inorganic poisons.
• 2. Hanging.
• 3. Firearm.
• 4. Jumping from a height.
• 5. Drowning.
• 6. Cutting and stabbing.
• 7. Suffocation by plastic bag.
• 8. Electrocution.
DEATH FROM STARVATION
 Types of Starvation:

•1. Acute starvation — is when the

necessary food has been suddenly
•and completely withheld from a person
•2. Chronic starvation — is when there is a
gradual or deficient supply
•of food.
Causes of Starvation:

1.Suicidal:
2.Homicidal:
3.Accidental:
Length of Survival:

• NOTE:
• The human body without food loses l/24th of its weight daily,
• and a loss of 40% of the weight results to death.
• The length of survival depends upon the presence or absence of
• water. Without food and water, a person cannot survive more than
• 10 days, but with water a person may survive without food for 50
• to 60 days.
Factors that Influence the Length of Survival:

1.Age
2.Condition of the body
3.Sex
4.Environment
The Length of Survival Depends Upon the Following:

• a. Presence or absence of water.

• b. Partial or complete withdrawal of food.
• c. Surroundings.
• d. Females survive better than males, but children and
older
• persons die quickly.
• e. Condition of the body.
DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD BODY

• If the deceased was a married man or woman, the duty of

burial shall devolve upon the surviving spouse if he or she
possesses sufficient means to pay the necessary expenses.
DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD BODY

• If the deceased was an unmarried man or woman, or a

child, and left any kin, the duty of burial shall devolve
upon the nearest kin of the deceased, if they be adults
and within the Philippines and in possession of
sufficient means to defray the necessary expenses..
DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD BODY

• If the deceased left no spouse or kindred possessed of

sufficient means to defray the necessary expenses, as
provided in the two foregoing subsection, the duty of burial
shall devolve upon the municipal authorities.
METHODS OF DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD BODY:

1. Embalming:
2. Burial or Inhumation:
METHODS OF DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD BODY:
METHODS OF DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD BODY:
Disposing of the Dead Body in the Sea:
Cremation:
Use of the Body for Scientific Purposes:
EXHUMATION:
END