scholarly journals A Forensic Autopsy Study of Dead Foetuses and Newborns

2022 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 379-384
Author(s):  
Jaspinder Pratap Singh

Background: The term abandonment refers to babies or foetuses which are found abandoned at various unwanted places such as gutter, rubbish dumps, railway tracts and bushes. It does not refer to live born babies left in places, such as hospitals where care can be given by someone other than the mother. Aims and Objectives: To find out the distribution of death cases of newborns/feotuses and to trace its probable reason and its relationship with female foeticide.Methods:A retrospective study of all the medico-legal autopsies of foetuses and newborns was conducted in Forensic medicine and Toxicology department, Government Medical College, Amritsar (Punjab) from Jan 1, 2014 to Jul 31, 2021. During this period, 46 cases of fetal and newborn deaths had been studied.Results:The dead bodies of known foetuses/newborns is 43.5% cases while total unknown cases were 56.5% cases. 32.6% cases were non viable foetuses while 10.8% cases died as a result of prematurity. All the unknown cases (56.5%) were found from the abandoned places like street, bushes, canal side, water bodies that mainly includes pond and railway tract.Conclusion:Despite, the problem is present in every corner of the nation, there is dearth of research studies on this issue. Stringent measures and strict checks are required against antenatal sex determination. The motive behind the abandonment of foetuses can be any, but this grave issue needs urgent attention.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 17-21
Author(s):  
Shilpa S Babu ◽  
Renju Raveendran ◽  
Anwar KA

Background: The coronavirus pandemic is one of the deadliest pandemic in history. The authorities worldwide responded to this pandemic by implementing business closures, travel restrictions, lockdowns and quarantines. Aims and Objectives: To determine the type of cases and compare the patterns of deaths which came for autopsy to Department of Forensic Medicine, Government Medical College, Kottayam during the Pre lockdown period in 2019 and COVID-19 Lockdown Period in 2020. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was conducted in the Department of Forensic Medicine, Govt. Medical College, Kottayam. The study data was collected from postmortem reports of Department of Forensic Medicine, Govt. Medical College, Kottayam. Pre-lockdown period was taken as from 21 March to 31 May 2019.There were total 424 cases in 2019,whereas in the Lockdown period taken as from 21 March 2020 to31 May 2020,no: of cases reduced to 270. All these cases were grouped according to cause of death, manner of death and modalities of natural and unnatural deaths. Details of cases were entered utilizing a proforma. Results: There were total 424 cases in the pre-lockdown period in the year 2019, whereas in the lockdown period in 2020, number of cases declined to 270. Among the manner of deaths, accidents accounted for most of the deaths in the year 2019, i.e. 44.6% deaths due to accidents, whereas in the year 2020, deaths due to natural diseases topped the list, 46.3%. These differences in the manner of deaths were found statisticallysignificant. Conclusion: Two months into lockdown, statistically significant differences were noted in patterns of deaths. Further study should be conducted in the near future, when more data will become available. Providing early warning in patterns of mortality within the community could prove to be an invaluable public health asset.


2013 ◽  
Vol 03 (02) ◽  
pp. 025-028
Author(s):  
Pratik Vijay Tarvadi ◽  
Shankar M. Bakkannavar ◽  
Manjunath S. ◽  
Vikram Palimar ◽  
G. Pradeep Kumar ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Pediatric poisoning is a common medical emergency and also associated with a high morbidity and mortality in children. In developing countries like India, poisoning emergencies are becoming a major cause of mortality in infants and toddlers. Among the various studies conducted on poisoning in our country, the study on poisoning is predominantly on adults and hence this study is taken up to understand the incidence of childhood poisoning cases. Method: A ten year retrospective study from January 1999 to December 2008 was conducted at the Department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, to comprehend the magnitude of childhood poisoning cases at Kasturba Hospital, Manipal. Results: Insecticide poisoning was the most predominant poisoning followed by venomous bites. Conclusion: Our study examines the most common poison involved and route of intake among children to identify specific ages at risk and give suggestions so as to reduce the morbidity and mortality.


Author(s):  
Kalpesh Zanzrukiya ◽  
Chandresh Tailor ◽  
Paresh Chandegara ◽  
Ganesh Govekar ◽  
Umang Patel ◽  
...  

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-93
Author(s):  
Md. Mizanur Rahman ◽  
Md. Rezaul Haque ◽  
Polash Kumar Bose

Background: The word asphyxia is now commonly used to describe a range of conditions for which the lack of oxygen whether it is partial (hypoxia) or complete (anoxia) is considered to be the cause. The cardinal signs of asphyxia are cyanosis, congestion and petechial haemorrhage. Objective: To investigate the causes and manner of asphyxial death. Materials and Methods: It was a retrospective study conducted in the department of Forensic Medicine, Dinajpur Medical College, Dinajpur during July 2004 to June 2006. A total of 96 cases were examined and recorded. These cases were brought to the morgue of Dinajpur Medical College from 13 different police stations and 1 railway GRP station of Dinajpur district. The data were collected from the autopsy reports (preserved third copy) with permission of the concerned autopsy surgeons. Results: 88.55% of asphyxia deaths were due to hanging, 6.25% due to strangulation and 5.20% were due to suffocation. Conclusion: Most of the asphyxial deaths are due to hanging. Journal of Enam Medical College; Vol 3 No 2 July 2013; Page 91-93 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jemc.v3i2.16131


2022 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 268-273
Author(s):  
Kuldip Kumar

Background: In a country like India, the prisoner cells are not well structured. For instance prisons are known to be a high risk environment for infections like tuberculosis (TB), HIV, HCV, HBV etc. due to overcrowding, low levels of nutrition, poor infection control and lack of accessible healthcare services. This study is an effort to know about the pattern of infections in custodial death cases detected during post mortem examination. Aims and Objectives: To determine the common infections and to know the mortality caused by infections among prisoners in custody, people in police custody and mentally ill patients in mental health institute in Punjab.Methods:This cross sectional study of 100 cases of custodial deaths from 1st Jan 2019 to 4thMay 2021, was carried out in the Forensic Medicine department in collaboration with department of Microbiology, Govt. Medical College, Amritsar.Results:Klebsiella Pneumoniae (37.5%) is more common in age group of 10-30 years while Staphylococcus Aureus (35.9%) infection was more common in the age group of 31 to 50 years. Incidence of positive growth of infections was slightly more in female inmates (76.9%) as compared to the males (75.9%). Inmates from urban area background showed more growth of Staphylococcus Aureus (35.7%) than from rural area background(25%).Conclusions:Timely medical diagnosis and treatment of each prisoner with availability of good doctors are the important issues relating to the healthcare of the individuals in custody.


2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (06) ◽  
pp. 798-803
Author(s):  
Mariam Arif

Introduction: There are three types of compression of neck which are of primeforensic importance – (1) Manual strangulation (2) Hanging (3) Ligature strangulation. Ligaturemark is found in the latter two types.1 Ligature mark is a pressure mark on the neck underneaththe ligature. Initially it appears as a pale groove which on drying becomes yellowish brownparchment like.2,5 Objective: The aim is to study the information provided by a ligature markin ligature asphyxial deaths. Methodology: Study Design: A retrospective study on ligatureasphyxial deaths. Setting: Forensic Medicine and Toxicology Departments of King EdwardMedical University, Lahore and Nishtar Medical College, Multan. Period: January, 2012 toDecember, 2013. Results: The incidence of violent ligature asphyxial deaths was 4.21% of thetotal medicolegal deaths autopsied. Age group 21 to 30 years accounted for the maximumcases (37.6%). Male: female ratio was 1.02. Nylon rope (44.7%) was the most common ligaturematerial used. Ligature mark was single in all cases and was situated above thyroid cartilage in82.92% cases of hanging. In ligature strangulation deaths, mark was one in number in 93.18%cases and was below thyroid cartilage in 97.72% cases. The manner of death in hangingwas mostly suicidal (90.24%) as compared to homicidal in all cases of ligature strangulation.Ligature mark was incompletely encircling the neck in 85.36% cases and obliquely present in100% cases of hanging. In all deaths due to ligature strangulation, it was completely encirclingand transversely present around the neck. Underlying soft tissues of neck were glisteningwhite in all hanging deaths while it showed extravasations of blood in all ligature strangulationcases. Conclusions: A meticulous examination of the ligature mark during autopsy, though notconclusive, can give valuable information that can be very helpful in diagnosing deaths due tohanging and ligature strangulation.


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