Tuesday 1 January 2013

Emedinews:Insights on MEdicolegal Issues:Autopsy findings in hanging




·         The mark on the neck in hanging oblique/incomplete placed high up with pattern abrasions.
·         The circumstances will usually indicate the fact of hanging, but sometimes the rope will break or become detached, and the deceased will be found lying with a ligature around his neck.
·         The victim may sit or slump on a chair, bed or floor with the rope attached to a point only slightly above neck level. Very confusing for public perception.
·         Postmortem hypostasis will occur in the legs and hands if the body has been in the vertical position for at least a few hours. When the body is cut down and laid horizontal for a considerable time, some or all of this may flow back into the usual pattern.
·         Petechial hemorrhages are the exception rather than the rule; most series have reported them in about 25% of cases.
·         There are no injuries on the hands and other part of the body of victim in the form resistance
·         Dribbling of saliva is considered to be a sign of antemortem hanging but it is not necessarily seen in all the cases of hanging since the secretion of saliva in hanging is dependent upon, the stimulation of salivary glands by ligature material during the course of hanging.
·         In a case of partial hanging when only partial body weight is working as constricting force on neck, the ligature mark is faint. Hence, in this case or any other case of hanging particularly partial hanging where the salivary glands are not pressurized by the constricting force of ligature, no dribbling of saliva is seen and the same in this case cannot be ruled out.
·         The neck of the deceased will not be stretched and elongated in this case since as it is a case of partial hanging and complete body weight is not working as stretching force.
·         The eyes may remain open in a case of antemortem hanging.
·         As per literature suicide notes are left only in about 25% cases.

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