{"title":"Injury pattern(s) in electric iron-related fatal electrocutions in the home.","authors":"Sangram S Yadav, Mohit Chauhan","doi":"10.1177/00258172241288019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00258172241288019","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Although an electric iron will be found in almost every home, injuries from this useful and low-cost device are unexpected. There is little data on electric iron contact burns (non-electrocution) in children and an absolute lack of literature dealing with accidental fatalities from electric irons. This study sets out to describe the causes and patterns of domestic fatalities in females from electric irons.</p>","PeriodicalId":35529,"journal":{"name":"Medico-Legal Journal","volume":" ","pages":"258172241288019"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143732111","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Camilla Cecannecchia, Stefania De Simone, Simona Vittorio, Benedetta Baldari, Luigi Cipolloni, Andrea Cioffi
{"title":"Fatal entrapment under a lift-up storage bed: Accidental death from positional asphyxia.","authors":"Camilla Cecannecchia, Stefania De Simone, Simona Vittorio, Benedetta Baldari, Luigi Cipolloni, Andrea Cioffi","doi":"10.1177/00258172241288010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00258172241288010","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Positional or postural asphyxia results in a violent asphyxial death when the body (e.g. neck and/or chest) suffers kinking of the airway and obstructed normal gas exchange. Accidental deaths from positional asphyxia are poorly described in the literature. They are more common in infants unable to break free from the restraint position. We present a case of an 85-year-old woman discovered trapped with her neck compressed under a lift-up bed storage. The death scene investigation, the medical history of the subject, and the post-mortem findings enabled the cause of the death to be ascribed to accidental positional mechanical asphyxia.</p>","PeriodicalId":35529,"journal":{"name":"Medico-Legal Journal","volume":" ","pages":"258172241288010"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143693651","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Comparing cerebral palsy costs: Private healthcare vs medico-legal claims in South Africa.","authors":"Gregory Whittaker","doi":"10.1177/00258172241287654","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00258172241287654","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study compares the costs of cerebral palsy healthcare in South Africa's private healthcare system with the lump sum compensation typically awarded in medico-legal claims. The analysis reveals that private healthcare costs for cerebral palsy, particularly within high-coverage benefit options, are significantly lower than the capitalised values awarded by South African courts. This suggests that the projections used in medico-legal claims may overestimate the true financial requirements for cerebral palsy care. The study advocates for evidence-based methodologies in medical expert witness assessments to ensure accurate and fair cost estimations, reducing discrepancies between private healthcare costs and medico-legal compensation.</p>","PeriodicalId":35529,"journal":{"name":"Medico-Legal Journal","volume":" ","pages":"258172241287654"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143626206","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Medico-Legal JournalPub Date : 2025-03-01Epub Date: 2023-10-06DOI: 10.1177/00258172231195733
Manoj K Mohanty, Sindhu S Sahu, Sudipta R Singh, Manas R Sahu, Rajanikanta Swain, Preetam K Lenka, Biswa M Padhy, Alagarasan Naveen
{"title":"External challenges for specialists dealing with forensic autopsies.","authors":"Manoj K Mohanty, Sindhu S Sahu, Sudipta R Singh, Manas R Sahu, Rajanikanta Swain, Preetam K Lenka, Biswa M Padhy, Alagarasan Naveen","doi":"10.1177/00258172231195733","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00258172231195733","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>In addition to poor infrastructure, and human resource constraints, forensic medicine specialists in developing countries face many external challenges.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>We aimed to investigate the prevalence, type, and source of external challenges confronting them including sex, age, religion, deceased's place of residence and the number of accompanying relatives.</p><p><strong>Materials and methods: </strong>This cross-sectional, observational study was conducted between August 2020 and July 2022 at the Mortuary of AIIMS, Bhubaneswar with the approval of the ethical committee.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Of note, forensic medicine specialists faced external challenges in about one in five cases (20.5%). Most demands were to either minimise the autopsy procedure (n = 65) or to conduct the autopsy at inappropriate times (n = 58). The demands to minimise the autopsy procedure were significantly associated with the deceased's age (p = 0.046), religion (p = 0.010), socioeconomic class (p = 0.020) and manner of death (p = 0.019).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our study found that forensic medicine specialists in India face significant external challenges. Avoiding unnecessary complete autopsies, implementing night autopsies, and embracing minimally invasive autopsies are recommended to mitigate these challenges.</p>","PeriodicalId":35529,"journal":{"name":"Medico-Legal Journal","volume":" ","pages":"19-24"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41142347","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Medico-Legal JournalPub Date : 2025-03-01Epub Date: 2024-10-18DOI: 10.1177/00258172241264779
Devendra Jadav
{"title":"Jaw bombs: Rampantly used indigenous explosives causing human-wildlife conflict in a few regions of India and Sri Lanka.","authors":"Devendra Jadav","doi":"10.1177/00258172241264779","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00258172241264779","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":35529,"journal":{"name":"Medico-Legal Journal","volume":" ","pages":"55-56"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142476542","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Medico-Legal JournalPub Date : 2025-03-01Epub Date: 2025-02-08DOI: 10.1177/00258172241286642
John F Mayberry
{"title":"A critical analysis of the impact of early marriage on girls based on published autobiographies and a contemporary scholarly text - <i>Īḍāḥ al-bayān fī nikāḥ al-ṣibyān</i>.","authors":"John F Mayberry","doi":"10.1177/00258172241286642","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00258172241286642","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>This work emerged from a need to better understand the \"lived experience\" of early marriage for girls and how it should impact on contemporary attitudes in the Muslim community and encourage it to support the international movement with the aim of a minimum common age of 18 years for marriage of young people.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>To identify from contemporary published literature, including autobiographies and religious texts dealing specifically with early marriage, the effects of early marriage on individuals and to set this as a background to the extensive literature on its medical, psychological and social impact.<b>Participants and setting:</b> The setting is the published words of two women and a man who were involved in early marriages and a commentary on the topic by an Ibadi theologian.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The documents were identified through searching a range of databases using various search engines. Texts were then analysed for key terms describing the impact of early marriage and these were then grouped into themes.</p><p><strong>Findings: </strong>The extracts raise questions linked to the issue of consent and the role of adult coercion, including physical force and threat of harm. In practice girls are given in marriage by their guardians against their wishes and international conventions on the rights and care of children, as well as that outlined in Qur'an 4 v6.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Modern Muslim states face a real challenge in implementing 18 as the minimum age for marriage, especially in how to manage opposition to appropriate new legislation from some traditionalist groups.</p>","PeriodicalId":35529,"journal":{"name":"Medico-Legal Journal","volume":" ","pages":"37-41"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143374888","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Medico-Legal JournalPub Date : 2025-03-01Epub Date: 2025-02-11DOI: 10.1177/00258172241275085
Nicholas Todd, James Wright-Todd
{"title":"Informed consent in neurosurgery with particular reference to alternatives to proposed surgery. Updated case law including <i>McCulloch</i>.","authors":"Nicholas Todd, James Wright-Todd","doi":"10.1177/00258172241275085","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00258172241275085","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Informed consent is a crucial element in neurosurgical practice; failures of the consenting process are a common cause of litigation in neurosurgery and judgments that have particular relevance to neurosurgical practice will be reviewed here. Guidance for consent based upon current case law is discussed.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The legal databases BAILII and WestLaw were searched using the search term \"informed consent\". The BAILII search yielded 86 abstracts, WestLaw yielded 33. There were 15 duplicates. Ten of the remaining 104 abstracts were commentaries, leaving 94 judgments. From those judgments a further 21 cases were added. A total of 115 judgments were reviewed by both authors.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 23 judgments dealing with issues of informed consent in neurosurgical and other surgical practice were selected. The cases and their implications for neurosurgical consent are discussed below.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>When proposing a surgical procedure to a competent adult, the treating surgeon must discuss the benefits, risks and alternatives to treatment with the patient. The surgeon can be guided by professional guidance from the GMC, or another professional body, and/or case law. Relevant issues include: (i) the risks and benefits of surgery; (ii) information that is accurate (or inaccurate, incorrect, missing or late information); (iii) established practice; (iv) the current state of knowledge; (v) reasonable alternative treatments; and (vi) surgery performed on a different day or by a different surgeon.</p>","PeriodicalId":35529,"journal":{"name":"Medico-Legal Journal","volume":" ","pages":"29-32"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143400066","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Medico-Legal JournalPub Date : 2025-03-01Epub Date: 2025-02-11DOI: 10.1177/00258172241274437
Rachael Mulheron
{"title":"Secondary victims liability in medical negligence: Ring-fenced or unfenced?","authors":"Rachael Mulheron","doi":"10.1177/00258172241274437","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00258172241274437","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":35529,"journal":{"name":"Medico-Legal Journal","volume":" ","pages":"5-13"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143400072","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"An uncommon case of self-strangulation by ligature and the importance of a crime scene visit by a forensic pathologist.","authors":"Aditya Anand, Manav Sharma, Vikash Chandra, Mukul Sharma, Ankit Kumar","doi":"10.1177/00258172231164293","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00258172231164293","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Self-strangulation is an uncommon method of suicide. The body was found lying on the floor in front of the \"multi-gym\" inside the gym in the basement of the deceased's house. It was initially presented as a case of sudden death, but during autopsy, a ligature mark was noted over the deceased's neck and bilateral temporal regions along with findings supportive of ligature strangulation. A visit was made to the crime scene. A plausible reconstruction of events suggested that the deceased had used the metallic rope of the multi-gym for this purpose. The rope was connected to weights from one end, passed through a pulley and connected to a rod at the other end. Its width and pattern matched with the ligature mark. The deceased wound the rod end of the rope around his neck and entangled the rod to the rope over his head so that the weight attached to the other end tightened the rope around his neck and strangled him. As the rope unravelled, gravity caused the body to fall to the ground while the rope with the rod resumed its normal position due to the pull of the weight attached at the opposite end. This case is reported for its rarity and the unusual means used to commit suicide by self-strangulation.</p>","PeriodicalId":35529,"journal":{"name":"Medico-Legal Journal","volume":" ","pages":"25-27"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9390387","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Forensic analysis of fabricated long bone fractures for gain.","authors":"Ravdeep Singh, Ashwini Kumar, Harvinder S Chhabra, Rajiv Joshi, Karan Pramod","doi":"10.1177/00258172231178424","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00258172231178424","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Self-inflicting injury is a recognised psychiatric disorder. Such cases are regularly seen in the emergency department, with a false history of assault. Most of these are easily detected by a forensic medicine expert as they present as described in literature but are difficult to explain if altered by professionals for nefarious reasons.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>This was a prospective study carried out at a tertiary centre. The data was collected and analysed from the office records of medico-legal reports prepared at our institute between 25 February 2022 and 25 February 2023.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>21 cases were recorded, that met with our criteria. Most involved males (90.5%). Minimum age was 27 years and maximum age 66 years with a mean of 48.6 years and a standard deviation of ±11 years. Most offenders were unemployed (38.1%). Most fractured bone was tibia (47.6%). Left-sided fractures were more common (61.9%). Injuries corresponded with the findings on clothes in three cases (14.3%).</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>Fabricated wounds will reflect the intentions of the fabricator and may range from superficial wounds to grievous injury. Only a critical analysis of all medico-legal cases will identify them, and they will have similarities of presentation.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Such findings have rarely been reported in other parts of India. A diligently prepared medico-legal report and profiling of all cases can help establish patterns of such injuries.</p>","PeriodicalId":35529,"journal":{"name":"Medico-Legal Journal","volume":" ","pages":"28-30"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41170482","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}