Diagnostic of Drowning in Forensic Medicine

The diagnostic of drowning is described in the literature as one of the most difficult in the field of forensic medicine (Piette & De letter, 2006). In fact, the external examination and the autopsy findings are in most of the cases not specific and the laboratory investigations are controversially appreciated by the scientific community. The main goal in this field is to differentiate a death by submersion from a immersion of a body. Death of a victim found in water should not always be related to drowning (Knight, 1991). It is important to remind that the death by drowning is defined as a death due to submersion in a liquid and the mechanism in acute drowning is hypoxemia and irreversible cerebral anoxia (D.J. Di Maio & V.J.M. Di Maio 1989).