infanticide (redirected from Infanticide in human culture)

in·fan·ti·cide (n-fnt-sd)

n.

1. The act of killing an infant.

2. The practice of killing newborns.

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infanticide

[infan′tisīd]

Etymology: L, infans, unable to speak, caedere, to kill

1 the killing of an infant or young child. The act is usually a psychotic reaction often associated with severe depression, such as that occurring in bipolar disorder and occasionally in extreme postpartum disturbances. Infanticide may become a neurotic obsession among mothers who do not want the baby or who do not feel physically, mentally, or emotionally capable of caring for or coping with the infant.

2 one who takes the life of an infant or young child. infanticidal, adj.

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infanticide

see infantophagia.

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infanticide

Forensic medicine The active or semi-passive killing of a viable conceptus > 20 gestational wks, which breathes spontaneously. See Battered child syndrome, Child abuse. Cf Stillbirth.

Infanticide, diagnosis of  

'Hard' criteria

•  Comparison of gastric fluid composition with that of a toilet bowel-active drowning

•  Peural surfaces with petechiae Seen in induced suffocation, most significant when coupled with hematomas and petechiae on the mouth and epiglottis; the lingual frenulum may be torn and the lips bruised, indicating active attempts to suffocate infant

•  Lungs Stillbirth lungs are not aerated and do not float

•  Edematous foam on nostrils An indicator of active breathing

•  Meconium Resuscitation of a true stillborn may push meconium into the perianal region, but extensive staining of the placenta and umbilical cord is due to antenatal stress

'Soft' criteria

•  Denial of pregnancy If the woman is obese or a dullard, she may not know she was pregnant

•  Rigor mortis A finding that is poorly appreciated in neonates

•  Impression of the body in soil, blood, or fomites, requiring diligent and timely scene investigation

•  Maceration of skin A finding typical of stillbirth

•  Putrefaction Stillborns do not putrefy as they have sterile bowels

•  Umbilical cord A cut cord indicates active intervention-time undetermined; an intact cord is consistent with stillbirth

•  Determination of age Viability, most fetuses born before 18 wks of gestation die despite resuscitative efforts, age is determined by skeletal dating, antenatal studies corroborating fetal death, eg Spaulding sign of in utero death characterized by overlapping cranial bones