Crash helmet – the harbinger of death: a case report.

In one of the rarest form of freak accident, a young woman surrendered to her death in a manner that belie the reality only to be played back in a slow motion sequence. History is replete of instances in which death struck individuals in otherwise innocent forms. In this case – elaborated below – a helmet tucked under the crook of an elbow became the undoing causing the woman to topple backward in a slow-motion, the head striking the hard surface of the road and precipitating her death later in a hospital.

It Is Time the Sternum Gets a New Name.

Names of objects change over a period of time. New words come up to keep in line with innovations and technology. Neologism requires that the new word entrant should be concise, phonetically strong and resemble the function towhich thewordmay be used. Internet language is the latest invention inwhich theword has been so abbreviated that at times the user is frightened that its continuous usage would finally obliterate the real word. To counter that threat old-timers adopt duality in action, i.e., they would use internet language while using internet portfolio and would revert to the old language while scripting text. However, in certain cases it is better to discard the old robe in favor of new when the coined word would instill more confidence and is in harmony to the function it is required to perform. In this way the word is remembered accurately and used with finesse. Presented in this paper is the strong defense for change of the word “sternum” to “saber” and reason why this change is desired.

Situation Ethics: How relevant is ‘right’ versus ‘useful’ theory in ethical practice.

Ironically in the twenty-first century, developing countries face a pile of ever increasing burden on health care facilities. The lack of political will, redundant health policies, mismanaged health care system, and grossly inadequate health care infrastructure along with battery of other local factors, have fuelled the crisis. People depend largely on government hospitals for basic health care facilities, which usually remain saturated and long queues are a customary sight. The tremendous increase in dependence over government hospitals has drained the already fatigued heath service. Under such an ambience, the people involved are often constrained to take decisions which though look agonizingly unethical, yet are defended by demand of situation. The authors present their view point under the ambit of “Situation Ethics” in an incident, reported in newspaper highlighting the plight of a victim who met with a train accident at district Malda, State of West Bengal, India, and lost both his legs, which were securely tucked under his head as ‘pillow’ giving a grisly sight unbecoming in an hospital situation.

Pattern of non-fatal head injury in adult cases reported at J.N.M.C. Hospital, A.M U, Aligarh.

Head injury is one of the major public health problems and has already attained epidemic proportions in India. The incidence of head injuries is growing with greater mechanization in industry and an increase in high velocity mode of transport. The injuries could be caused by a penetrating or blunt force either by direct violence or indirectly. The Present study was conducted in cases admitted to Emergency section of J.N. Medical College Hospital, A.M.U. Aligarh. All the cases (2850) of head injury reported from 01/01/2008 to 31/12/2009 for treatment were included in the study. Most of the cases of head injury belong to younger age group (15-34 yrs) comprising of 56.61% with male preponderance of 85.68% with majority of the cases belonging to road traffic accident (55.02%).Scalp injury in 2365 cases where as 969 were cases of skull fractures and extradural hemorrhage(17.36%) was most common intracranial injury followed by subdural hemorrhage(7.6%).

Access of high technology based medical diagnostic tool to convicted prisoners lodged in a typically large indian jail: CT scan as case study.

Computed tomography scan of whole body or part of the body is an excellent tool that has elbowed out other radiological procedures demoting their diagnostic importance. However, it is costly to install and operate successfully following the prescribed procedure of equipment maintenance, overhaul and replacement of depleted parts. Keeping this in view, this exercise was contemplated to find out if convicted prisoners lodged in jail are being discriminated at any time by denying CT scan against medical advice. A typically large Indian jail was selected because it would be reflective of similar conditions prevailing in other jails. It was found that although the prescription rate of CT scan was less in prison inmates as compared with the general population, no element of discriminatory nature or prejudice could be detected. Search on internet and other related journals yielded no result on this topic. Hence it was felt that a beginning should be made. In future large sample studies could be taken up for an authoritative work. Such a work would serve the requirement of the government for enacting policies as well as create awareness among the penitentiary officers.

A study of the pattern of head injury in District Aligarh. U.P.. India.

Trauma as a general rule carries medicolegal implication. Head injury adds complexity to the problem as it adversely affects the complete evaluation of trauma until some time has elapsed after a particular injury. The often ill-defined clinical manifestation, the impact of claim settlements, and malingering further add to the problem of fair decision.