RESUMO
Objective: The main objective of Medico-legal autopsy is to find out the cause of death but it also helps in finding the manner of death. From this we also find out the criminal behavior of the society and usage of different kinds of weapons related with the cause of death and particularly the types of fire-arm weapons which is more in concern with the present study. This study was especially conducted to find out the predominance of rifled fire-arms weapons amongst all fire-arm deaths
Study Design: Observational / descriptive study
Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at the Department of Forensic medicine and Toxicology K.E.M.U. Lahore during the period of 2006-2008
Materials and Methods: This study includes 2979 medico-legal autopsies. The information was gathered from post-mortem reports, police documents and hospital records. Not only the kind of weapon was studied but all other parameters were taken into consideration like, cause and manner of death, sex, age, season and areas of injuries on the body
Results: The analysis quite distinctly highlighted that amongst 2979 deaths 1285 were because of fire-arms weapons [43.13%]. Out of these 1192 [92%] deaths were by rifled weapons, whereas 103 [8%] were by smooth bored fire-arm weapons. Total number of male deaths by fire-arms was 1066 [82.95%], whereas females were 219 [17.05%]. All homicidal cases were 788, 46 suicidal, 97 accidental and in 354 the manner remained un-determined. The manner amongst males was, 652 homicidal, 42 suicidal, 82 accidental and in 290 it was un-determined. And in females 136 were homicidal, 4 were suicidal, 15 accidental and in 64 the manner remained un-determined. The ratio of homicidal to suicidal was 17.1:1 and homicidal to accidental ratio was 8.1:1. In 92% cases the rifled fore-arms weapons was used and in 8% it was smooth bored. The rifled fire-arms injuries had multiple entry wounds in 52.9% of deaths and there was single entry wound in 47% deaths. While there was single entry wound in 66% deaths in smooth bored weapons and in 34% of cases multiple wounds were observed. The range of fire in [56.8%] homicidal deaths was distant, whereas in 30.4% it was close range. Close contact fire was seen in 1.4% of suicidal deaths. 16% cases showed blackening, 10.58% cases had tattooing and in 2.25% cases there was burning
Conclusion: The fire-arms weapon is the most predominant mean of un-natural deaths. Amongst them the usage of rifled weapons is more than the smooth bored. So this needs formulation of effective law for control of these weapons
RESUMO
Objective: The objective of this study was to find out the commonest cause of death in these asphyxial deaths during the period of study and to compare it with other studies previously carried out on this subject
Study Design: Observational / descriptive study
Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at Forensic Medicine Department AIMC, Lahore from January 2013 to December 2013
Materials and Methods: Total medico-legal autopsies were 221. Out of these 32 were the cases of mechanical asphyxial deaths, which were selected for this study. The documents scrutinized for this purpose was, autopsy reports, police papers and hospital charts
Results: Out of all post-mortems conducted, the mechanical asphyxial deaths were 32 [14.47%]. Amongst them the cases of strangulations were the most 16 [50%], next in number were the cases of drowning 8 [25%]. There were 6 [18.75%] cases of throttling, and only 2 [6.25%] cases were of hanging. None of them was the case of traumatic asphyxia. In 32 cases of all asphyxial deaths males were 17[53.12%]. Amongst these 16 cases of strangulation the 3[rd]and 4th decades showed higher incidence. In all asphyxial deaths male [17] and females [15] show almost equal distribution. Strangulation is the most prevalent cause of death in all 32 asphyxial deaths. Almost all strangulation deaths were homicidal and hanging was suicidal. Similarly all throttling cases were homicidal. Ligature strangulation and throttling were the methods used in homicidal manner [50.00%] while hanging was used for suicide [6.25%]. In hanging the position of the knot was at occiput in all cases. In ligature strangulation showed the knot on the front in almost all cases
Conclusion: Amongst all asphyxial deaths the most prevalent cause was strangulation and manner in all was homicidal, it is one of the commonest causes of deaths in our country. So strangulation remains the most preferred method of homicidal asphyxial killings
RESUMO
Objective: This study was carried out to find the manner and gender variation in various age groups of asphyxial deaths in Lahore
Study Design: Observational study
Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at the Department of Forensic Medicine King Edward Medical University, Lahore, during January 2006 to December 2008
Materials and Methods: A total of 2979 autopsies had been carried out. After detailed scrutiny 220 cases of asphyxial deaths were selected for this study. The post-mortem reports, police papers and hospital notes were studied. The parameters selected in those asphyxial deaths were age, sex, means of constriction, level of application of force and fracture of hyoid bone
Results: Amongst this total number of autopsies in 220 cases, the cause of death was asphyxia [7.39%]. Hanging surpassed amongst all asphyxial deaths 104 which was 47.27%, ligature strangulation was next in number 64[29.09%] and then the throttling 52[23.64%]. Out of these 104 cases of hanging72 were males and males dominated as per M/F ratio shown as 2.25:1.0. The 3rddecade age group i.e.; 21-30 years had higher incidence of males than females. The homicidal manner was126 [57.27%], suicidal 68[30.91%] and in un-determined it was 26[11.82%]
Conclusion: Hanging remains the commonest method of suicide in males especially in age group of 21-30.Strangulation with ligature and manual throttling are the other methods used in homicidal deaths. The post-mortem findings showed damage to the structures above the thyroid cartilage which favors death due to hanging and throttling. And the trauma to the tissues below thyroid cartilage is consistent with ligature strangulation. The fracture of Hyoid bone is commonly seen in ligature strangulation
RESUMO
This study was carried out to find out the position of the knot in all the asphyxial deaths due to hanging and ligature strangulation. Retrospective study. This study was carried out at Forensic Medicine Department KEMU, Lahore, during the period from Jan. 2006 to Dec. 2008. Out of total 2979 medico-legal autopsies, 220 cases of fatal compression to the neck were selected. The autopsy reports, police documents and hospital records were studied. Out of total autopsies compressive trauma to the neck was in 220 cases [7.39%]. Hanging was the commonest cause 42.27%, ligature strangulation 29.09% and manual throttling 23.64%. The manner of death out of 104 cases of hanging was 68.50% [68 cases] with predominance of males [Male/Female ratio 2.78:1]. 3[rd] decade showed higher incidence in males than the females which were more in 2[nd] decade. No hanging was seen in the 1[st] decade. The strangulation was common in 2[nd], 3[rd] and 4[th] decades of life. Males showed higher incidence than females in hanging in 3[rd] and 4[th] decade. Females showed higher incidence in 2[nd], 3[rd] and 4[th] decades in ligature strangulations than males. In throttling males showed higher incidence in 3[rd] decade than females in 4[th] decade. The homicidal deaths were 57.27%, suicidal 30.90% and un-determined were 11.82%. Ligature strangulation and throttling were the methods used in homicidal manner [57.27%] while hanging was used for suicide [30.97%]. In hanging the position of the knot was at occiput in 62.50% cases and 23.08% had lateral position. In ligature strangulation 78.13% showed the knot on the front and 21.87% lateral. In hanging, which is a common method of suicide in our country, the knot was at occiput in 65 cases [62.50%], on right or left lateral in 24 cases [23.08%] and in none of the case was on the front. While in ligature strangulation, in 50 cases [78.13%] it was on the front, in 14 cases [21.87%] on right or left side and in none of the case it was on the front