Medicolegal Update
(Dr Sudhir Gupta, Additional Prof, Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, AIIMS)
(Dr Sudhir Gupta, Additional Prof, Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, AIIMS)
- Some people bruise easily, whereas others may have
tougher skin tissue. Apply a cold compress to the bruise for at least 10
minutes to reduce swelling or the amount of bruising after an injury,
- In some cases of brought dead or dead on arrival, the
doctor attending the case in emergency may be confused or is not be able
to differentiate between antemortem bruise and postmortem artifact and the
postmortem bruise is recorded in MLC report as injuries. I have seen such
cases in AIIMS during autopsy.
- Close examination by doctor in emergency may help to
differentiate because in antemortem bruises there is swelling and damage
to epithelium, coagulation and infiltration of the tissues blood and color
changes. These signs are always absent in postmortem bruises.
- It is seen that contusions and abrasions produced
immediately after death show a very low degree of changes.
- Appreciable bruising does not occur after 2–3 minutes
of death due to arrest of heart and blood circulation, but by using great
violence small bruises can be produced up to 3 hours after death where the
tissue can be forcibly compressed against the bone or if the body is
dropped on the ground from a height or from transport trolleys or running
vehicle.
- Some of the evidences of bleeding are seen without
history of trauma due to tearing of small veins in the skin when the body
is lifted from the scene of death and transportation handling and the same
is called postmortem artifact.
No comments:
Post a Comment