[@CarlLegge]

@CarlLegge asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Dr Eleanor Stride said injecting bubbles often thought of as undetectable murder; is it?

What do you think?

[Don_1]

Elementary my dear Watson @CarlLegge.

I don't know how many or big air bubbles would have to be to have the desired effect, if you can call it 'desired'. But any forensic scientist would examine the skin before delving into the corpse to establish the cause of death, so puncture marks from the hypodemic nurdle hypodermic needle would be noted. The subsequent lack of evidence from a toxicology report would suggest some shenanigans and I would think pumping air into the blood would be the prime suspect.

Now, where's my fiddle

[Bored chemist]

If it was undetectable, they wouldn't know about it.

[chris]

The pathologist would definitely note a skin puncture when performing their initial surface examination at the start of the PM. But in a patient already undergoing vascular access procedures - such as giving blood, being given IV drugs and so on - such marks would be expected. A large air bolus injected intravascularly could cause significant vascular compromise and would be hard to detect at post mortem.

Chris

[JnA]

it would have to be pretty big surely?