LifeBridge Health Blogs

Northwest Hospital's domestic violence program coordinator is using new technology to help those who are strangled.

A forensic light can detect bodily fluids, gun shot residence and bone fragments naked to the average eye. It also can pick up fingerprints around a victim's neck, which will help identify and provide documentation for patients who may have been strangled in episodes of domestic violence.

Strangulation is increasingly being taken seriously, as it can cause a person to fall unconscious. A few minutes can cause brain damage, Northwest case manager Cassie Offutt told WYPR this month.

Maryland legislators are currently reviewing House Bill 819 and Senate Bill 593, which would make strangulation a first-degree assault.

-Elizabeth Leis-Newman