ABSTRACT
In the recent years the fire arm possession and its use in violence has superseded many times the conventional means used even in rural setup. This study was conducted to know the pattern of injuries in fire arm related deaths, the prevalence of firearm weapons used in violence and the time interval the victim survived after sustaining injuries in such incidences. Observational study. This study was conducted at DHQ, Hospital kasur during the period from 1[st] January 2008 to 31[st] December 2010. This study includes 199 cases where death was due to some fire arm weapon out of total 451 cases autopsied at district Head Quarters Hospital kasur. The rate of fire arm related deaths during this period was 44.12%. Males accounted for 80.90% and females were 19.10%. In 60.30% cases death took place immediately after sustaining injuries, in 26.63% it was within minutes and in 3.51% the victim survived for hours after being injured. In 9.51% cases the victim remained admitted in hospital and died there due to some injury related complications. An interdisciplinary approach is required to control fire arm weapons possession, to educate the masses especially youngsters about sanctity of human life and how to control the nerves during period of mental irritability and instability
Subject(s)
Humans , Female , Male , Autopsy , Wounds and Injuries , Violence , PrevalenceABSTRACT
This is the first time study to find out the cause and manner of death through medico-legal autopsies in a small district comprising municipal boundaries and rural setup [District Kasur] and comparing it with urban studies conducted by the Forensic Medicine Departments of various medical colleges. This study is also aimed to assess the criminal behavior in this segment of society. Observational Study. This study was conducted at District Head Quarter Hospital Kasur from 2008 to 2010. This study was carried out on 451 medico legal autopsies performed at District Head Quarter Hospital Kasur. The findings were extracted from autopsy reports, chemical examiner reports, relevant hospital record and police documents. The cases were examined for various characteristics like cause and manner of manner of death, age and sex of victim and condition of body at the time of autopsy. The results revealed that homicide was the most common manner [82.26%] among unnatural deaths and males became three times more victims than females. The most vulnerable age group in unnatural deaths were from 15 to 45 years [77.39%]. In 44.12% cases firearm is the weapon responsible for death. Regarding condition of body at autopsy, 364 [80.71%] bodies were in fresh condition. Medico legal autopsy rate reflects the incidence of crime and criminal behavior of that segment of society. Compared with more civilized societies the crime incidence in our society is very high. In order to control it, we need to change the behavior of society through improvement in literacy rate, socioeconomic status and law and order situation. In order to improve the quality of medico-legal reporting there is need to strengthen the expertise in forensic medicine both at urban and rural level