Decoding Death in Complexity: A Forensic Case Series on Trauma, Healthcare-Associated Infections, and Chronic Diseases

Due to the nature of the profession, healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are a prevalent problem in forensic practice, especially in patients who have been hospitalized following severe injuries that required extended hospital stays, which often include surgery. Nevertheless, some of these patients also have underlying medical conditions. When a patient passes away and a complex pathology is discovered, it can be challenging to determine the cause of death and how each condition contributed to the death process. We present three cases from our practice that illustrate our approach to managing cases with multifactorial pathology.