A ten-year retrospective study on poisoning cases in two major cities of Malaysia and India.

This is a retrospective study conducted at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Delhi, India to make preliminary assessment about poisoning cases and their etiologies. The study was aimed at finding out the common age group involved, methods of poisoning, and types of substances used for committing suicide. Besides this, it also attempts to relate with ethnic groups and their choice. The commonest age group affected in both Malaysia and India appears to be the 16–30 group. Indians are more likely to commit suicide by poisoning (58.9%), compared to Chinese (28.5%), and Malays (5.3%). The majority of the cases of poisoning were suicidal in nature (58.8%), followed by accidental (16.6%), and homicidal (0.1%), while a significant number of cases were unclear in nature (24.4%). This study serves as a pilot project for more detailed prospective and retrospective studies involving multiple centres in the future.

Foreign objects in genitalia: Homicide with destruction of identity –A case report.

Sadistic homicides are probably more common than would be expected from reading the literature, where only a few cases are mentioned. In the present case an unclothed dead body of 25 year old female was found in the forest area by the police. On postmortem examination, we found crushed head by heavy hard blunt force (a heavy stone with blood stains recovered near body). After killing her, assailants tried to destroy her identity by burning the face and disfiguring the head. In this case beside common findings of homicide as usually seen in sexual murder cases; there was unique finding of a wine bottle introduced into vagina probably out of frustration. Body also had postmortem abrasions over different parts of the body. Postmortem fractures of multiple ribs were present on both sides of the chest. The death was due to crushed injuries to head caused by hard blunt force, which was sufficient to cause death in ordinary course of nature. We also discuss the possible scenario of psycho-pathology of accused in such cases.

Sudden death during sport activities: A malaysian perspective.

This is a retrospective study of sports related deaths on the human bodies brought for autopsy in the last 10 years (from 1995-2005) at University Malaya Medical Center (UMMC), Kuala Lumpur. The objective of this study was to know the cause of death, manner of death, ethnicity, food habits, timings of incident, number of cases and other related information like history of metabolic disorders or any other underlying diseases. All cases were analyzed in relation to age, gender, race, causes of death, type of sport activities and victim’s profile. The present study included those subjects who had died either during playing or immediately after it. Our results showed the most common age group affected in such sports related sudden deaths to be ranging between 40 – 49 years and the least affected were between 0 – 9 years of age. Out of 44 cases reanalyzed, 33 were male and1 was female. Among the ethnic group, most of the subjects were Chinese (45.45 %) followed by Malays (20.45%). This study also showed that 80% of the deaths were caused by ischemic heart disease IHD (50%) or coronary heart disease CAD (30%). Deaths were seen to be more in the subjects above 30 years of age which could be associated with the associated risk factors related to ageing. A significant number of deaths were observed while playing badminton and jogging. No serious need for mass screening was felt as the numbers of cases each year were not significant and they were isolated incidents. Although, there are few basic preventive measures like cardiac screening , lipid profile, avoidance of stressful working conditions which can be easily adopted to decrease loss of life. Incidence may decrease with recreational and health maintaining activities, but absolute prevention may still not be possible.

Responsibility and liability in cases of suicide by patient in hospital premises.

It is not uncommon to see that a few patients commit suicide in hospital premises. What would be the responsibility and liability of Hospital Manager in such situations? In the light of increasing incidents of such suicides in hospital premises, all pros and cons of such situations are discussed in length. A few settled and unsettled cases are discussed with an aim to create a debate on the issue and settle it squarely.