Elevator-Related Deaths.

Elevators are mechanical transportation devices used to move vertically between different levels of a building. When first developed, elevators lacked the safety features. When safety mechanisms were developed, elevators became a common feature of multistory buildings. Despite their well-regarded safety record, elevators are not without the potential for danger of injury or death. Persons at-risk for elevator-related death include maintenance and construction workers, other employees, and those who are prone to risky behavior. Deaths may be related to asphyxia, blunt force, avulsion injuries, and various forms of environmental trauma. In this review, we report on 48 elevator-related deaths that occurred in nine different medicolegal death investigation jurisdictions within the United States over an approximately 30-year period. The data represents a cross-section of the different types of elevator-related deaths that may be encountered. The review also presents an overview of preventive strategies for the purpose of avoiding future elevator-related fatalities.

Acute forces required for fatal compression asphyxia: A biomechanical model and historical comparisons.

Background Fatalities from acute compression have been reported with soft-drink vending machine tipping, motor vehicle accidents, and trench cave-ins. A major mechanism of such deaths is flail chest but the amount of force required is unclear. Between the range of a safe static chest compression force of 1000 N (102 kg with earth gravity) and a lethal dynamic force of 10-20 kN (falling 450 kg vending machines), there are limited quantitative human data on the force required to cause flail chest, which is a major correlate of acute fatal compression asphyxia. Methods We modeled flail chest as bilateral fractures of six adjacent ribs. The static and dynamic forces required to cause such a ribcage failure were estimated using a biomechanical model of the thorax. The results were then compared with published historical records of judicial "pressing," vending machine fatalities, and automobile safety cadaver testing. Results and conclusion The modeling results suggest that an adult male requires 2550 ± 250 N of chest-applied distributed static force (260 ± 26 kg with earth gravity) or 4050 ± 320 N of dynamic force to cause flail chest from short-term chest compression.

The stability of electrically induced ventricular fibrillation.

The first recorded heart rhythm for cardiac arrest patients can either be ventricular fibrillation (VF) which is treatable with a defibrillator, or asystole or pulseless electrical activity (PEA) which are not. The time course for the deterioration of VF to either asystole or PEA is not well understood. Knowing the time course of this deterioration may allow for improvements in emergency service delivery. In addition, this may improve the diagnosis of possible electrocutions from various electrical sources including utility power, electric fences, or electronic control devices (ECDs) such as a TASER(®) ECD. We induced VF in 6 ventilated swine by electrically maintaining rapid cardiac capture, with resulting hypotension, for 90 seconds. No circulatory assistance was provided. They were then monitored for 40 minutes via an electrode in the right ventricle. Only 2 swine remained in VF; 3 progressed to asystole; 1 progressed to PEA. These results were used in a logistic regression model. The results are then compared to published animal and human data. The median time for the deterioration of electrically induced VF in the swine was 35 minutes. At 24 minutes VF was still maintained in all of the animals. We conclude that electrically induced VF is long-lived--even in the absence of chest compressions.

National Association of Medical Examiners position paper on the medical examiner release of organs and tissues for transplantation.

The medical examiner community plays a key role in the organ and tissue procurement process for transplantation. Since many, if not most, potential organ or tissue donors fall under medicolegal jurisdiction, the medical examiner bears responsibility to authorize or deny the procurement of organs or tissues on a case-by-case basis. This responsibility engenders a basic dichotomy for the medical examiner's decision-making process. In cases falling under his/her jurisdiction, the medical examiner must balance the medicolegal responsibility centered on the decedent with the societal responsibility to respect the wishes of the decedent and/or next of kin to help living patients. Much has been written on this complex issue in both the forensic pathology and the transplantation literature. Several studies and surveys of medical examiner practices, as well as suggested protocols for handling certain types of cases, are available for reference when concerns arise that procurement may potentially hinder medicolegal death investigation. It is the position of the National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME) that the procurement of organs and/or tissues for transplantation can be accomplished in virtually all cases, without detriment to evidence collection, postmortem examination, determination of cause and manner of death, or the conducting of criminal or civil legal proceedings. The purpose of this position paper is to review the available data, the arguments for and against medical examiner release, and to encourage the release of organs and tissues in all but the rarest of circumstances.

Heart valve tissue donation does not preclude the diagnosis of clinically significant pediatric cardiac abnormalities.

Medical examiners/coroners often have the responsibility of deciding whether to allow organ and tissue donation to proceed in cases under their jurisdiction. A 10-year retrospective study was conducted of autopsy cases in children younger than 6 years to determine whether the donation of cardiac valve tissue would preclude the diagnosis of clinically significant pediatric cardiac abnormalities. Only 1 case (0.1%) was found in the entire 10-year period in which valve tissue donation might have prevented the correct diagnosis. According to the results of the study, (1) most cardiac findings in forensic pediatric autopsies are not clinically significant; (2) clinically significant findings will be diagnosed in properly examined hearts, even those processed for valve tissue donation, and special studies will remain possible in nearly all hearts except those with suspicion of conduction defects; and (3) as long as there is good communication between forensic pathologists and organ and tissue procurement organizations, the concern of failing to diagnose significant cardiac findings should not inhibit medical examiners/coroners from allowing the donation of pediatric cardiac valve tissue.

Thoracic aortic thrombi and hypercoagulability.

This unusual report shows the association between thoracic aortic mural thrombus formation and the hypercoagulable state without concomitant disseminated intravascular coagulation. The patient's hypercoagulability was reflected by laboratory results that included elevated Factor VIII and fibrinogen levels, along with a decreased level of antithrombin III. The underlying cause was probably acute peritonitis, a condition associated with coagulopathy.