Patterns of injury. Blunt and sharp.

The pathologist, by virtue of his or her observations and documentation of injuries with concomitant attempts to discern patterns of injury and correlate autopsy findings with investigative details, will often play an integral and primary role in the death investigation process. The information gleaned during this process, both pertinent positive and pertinent negative findings, however unimportant or insignificant they may seem during the initial examination, may potentially be of critical importance in answering future questions of a wide variety of interested parties, including law enforcement officials, prosecuting attorneys, defense attorneys, loved ones of the deceased, insurance companies, organ procurement officials, and news media. The pathologist, by virtue of his or her position in the process, is often the one best individual to collate and synthesize all findings of the process, both medical and investigative.