context: Profiling of drowning is essential for understanding its full burden which is vital to resourcing and directing prevention efforts as drowning is still aone of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality. aim: The aim of this study is to analyse the factors associated with drowning cases recoded in a tertiary care centre located along sea shore and river bank in one year. settings and design: A retrospective content based analysis of drowning cases recorded in one year from January 1st 2019 to 31stDecember 2019 in a tertiary care centre located along sea shore and river bank and the results were tabulated. results: Of the 36 cases, 26 cases were males and 10 were females accounting for 76.3% and 27.7% respectively with 88.88% (32 cases) accidental drowning and 36.11% (13 cases) in the age group of 30-45 years. conclusions: Our study concludes that the middle-aged rural males form the majority of drowning in large water bodies highlighting the absence of safety measures and awareness of swimming skills contributing to the causal factors of drowning.

Sudden death according to WHO is when death occurs within 24 hours of onset of symptoms, not otherwise explained. Hernia though a benign condition may result in sudden death if it becomes strangulated. The changes in pressure and volume during flight may result in increased incidence of complication especially in irreducible hernia. This case highlights that family physicians should be sensitized to the possibility of hernia strangulating during flight. Individuals with irreducible hernia should be advised against taking flight as a means of transport.

One of the common regional injuries an individual can sustain in Road Traffic Accidents is head injury. Head and face is the region which is more susceptible and requires an immediate care and treatment. The fatality rate is high even with intense treatment. Law making agencies has been continuously trying to enforce the rules of wearing helmets both in riders and pillion in two wheelers. Considering the same, this study was done in eastern part of Bangalore, an IT hub and a rapidly developing area with increase in vehicular movements. The study concluded that incidence was common among age group of 21–30 years with male predominance and among two wheel riders. Laceration is most common external injury followed by abrasion. Fissure fractures are most common type of Fracture, and sub dural haemorrhage is seen in majority of cases.

Determining the manner of death in equivocal cases of fatal compression of neck by ligature had been a challenge for the autopsy surgeons. Keeping the same in view, the profile of fatal compression of neck by ligature along with the appearance of ligature mark and other external findings was studied so as to note down any specific pattern which could help to differentiate between a case of hanging and ligature strangulation. The study was conducted in a prospective manner in UCMS and GTB Hospital, New Delhi. The hanging cases were all suicidal in nature while no suicide case was reported in strangulation cases. The frequency of hanging was found to be more in the younger age groups of 21–30 years followed by 11–20 years. The pattern of ligature mark was found to be a reliable factor to differentiate between the cases of hanging and strangulation.

Cut-throat wounds are a well-recognized method of homicide, are less commonly used in suicides and are rarely accidental. The forensic pathologist has a very challenging and important task when commenting on the manner of infliction of such wounds when such a case is presented with no proper history or witnesses. We present two cases of cut-throat wounds, one suicide and one homicide, to show the differences between the pattern of wounds. We highlight the differences between the two cases in relation to other external injuries, the circumstances in which the bodies were found and other factors. We intend to update the literature regarding this topic in reference to our cases. We also hope that our presentation will be beneficial to doctors performing autopsies on such cases, so as to distinguish the manner of cut-throat wounds in equivocal cases of death.

The present retrospective study was conducted on 5477 cases of death due to thermal injuries during the period from January 2007 to December 2012 at Department of Forensic Medicine, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi. The data were analysed with regard to age, sex, geographical distribution, type of inquest, mode of infliction, survival period, cause and manner of death. Most of the victims were females (61.26%) with male to female ratio 1:1.6. The peak incidence was seen in the age group of 21–30 years (42.92%). Inquest was done by police in 83.57% of cases followed by magistrate (16.43%). Majority of the victims were from Uttar Pradesh (42.36%) followed by Delhi (22.55%) and Haryana (19.79%). The most common manner of burn was accidental (85.24%), followed by suicidal (11.37%) and homicidal (3.39%). The mean survival period of all the victims was 6.4 days and majority (65.52%) of them died due to septicemia. Associated injuries contributing to death were present in 17 cases (0.32%).

A dying declaration is a statement made by a dying person as to the cause of his death or as to any circumstances of the transaction that resulted in his death. The dying declaration forms the sole basis of conviction if it is free from any kind of doubt and if it has been recorded in the manner as provided under the law. It should inspire full confidence in its truthfulness and correctness. Not recording of dying declaration will result in miscarriage of justice because the victim being generally the only eye-witness in a serious crime, the exclusion of the statement would leave the court without a scrap of evidence. It is for the court to see that dying declaration inspires full confidence as the maker of the dying declaration is not available for cross examination.

Birth defects have become the most important cause of mortality and morbidity in the perinatal period. Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common birth defect which includes varying forms of cardiac abnormalities with an incidence of 1 per 100 live births. We present a case where 6 month old Afghan national male baby brought to India for higher treatment with a history of failure to thrive and rapid heart beating. He was diagnosed with Atrio-Ventricular Septal Defect, Pulmonary artery hypertension and advised pulmonary artery banding as soon as possible. Baby fell unconscious on board and shifted to Safdarjung hospital where he was declared brought dead and post mortem examination confirmed the diagnosis. Here an attempt has been made to put forward such a case with relevant discussion on such potentially life-threatening malformations which warrant careful clinical follow-up both in antenatal and postnatal period.

Unusual and accidental findings are sometimes very confusing for Forensic experts to interpret particularly when proper history and treatment records are not available. It often leads to wrong interpretation and miscarriage of justice. The case reported is of an elderly female with history of intermittent fever, found unconscious at home and declared brought dead in casualty. The post-mortem findings showed the presence of subdural haemorrhage in left parieto-occipital region, which raised suspicion of blunt trauma to head. However there was absence of any scalp/skull injuries. The detailed history revealed long term use of oral contraceptive pills by the deceased. The cause of death was concluded as spontaneous subdural haemorrhage, as a complication of long term use of oral contraceptives. This case report highlights the importance of referring previous medical records and history taking before the autopsy in unusual cases which will eliminate most of doubts and also helps in corroborating the findings at autopsy.

Post-mortem artefacts are commonly encountered in forensic practice. They are sometimes very confusing for forensic experts to interpret and wrong interpretation may mislead the course of justice. A case is presented where a patient developed severe subcutaneous emphysema after a road traffic accident and was treated with multiple subcutaneous bilateral blowhole incision on the chest and upper part of abdomen. Confusion arose on autopsy about injuries whether they were therapeutic or homicidal in origin.

Organophosphates (OP) are widely used as insecticides. Accidental and suicidal OP poisoning is reported world wide but homicidal poisoning has always been rare owing to the disagreeable odour and taste rendered to them by their hydrocarbon solvents. An unusual case of homicide using an organophosphorous compound is presented here. A 1 month-old female infant was brought to Safdarjung hospital with a history of ingestion of some unknown substance given accidentally by her 5 year old female sibling. Post-mortem findings confirmed death due toorganophosphorous poisoning. The conflicting history revealed by both parents led to suspicion about the nature of incident. After thorough police interrogation it was found to be deliberately given by mother. This case highlights the importance of history taking before autopsy and emphasise the necessity of remaining alert to the use of organophosphorus compounds when dealing with homicidal cases. Such cases should be approached with an open mind about the type of poisons and the manner of poisoning while concluding opinions and to aid in the administration of justice.

Acute gastro-duodenal bleeding has been noted to occur in variety of clinical settings like major medical illness, postoperative patients, patients who have sustained major burns, traumatic patients and in patients with central nervous system disorders (comatose patients). These patients have one thing in common i.e. recent exposure to severe stress, leading to ulcer formation in stomach and duodenum and ultimately bleeding. The incidence and frequency of gastrointestinal bleeding and curling's ulcer in burn patients appears to be increasinPg in recent times. So this review of literature makes an attempt to demonstrate and support this hypothesis.

There is great importance of fracture of hyoid bone in the cases of asphyxial deaths due to compression of neck by ligature material. There had been a vast difference of opinion regarding the presence of hyoid bone fractures in cases of hanging. The various authors have reported the incidence of hyoid bone fracture from nil/rare to as high as 67% in hanging cases. Keeping the above facts into consideration, the present study was undertaken with the aim of studying the presence of hyoid bone fractures in hanging cases. The study was conducted in a retrospective manner in the Department of Forensic Medicine, VMMC & Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi. The data regarding the incidence of hyoid bone fractures were collected by analyzing the postmortem records of hanging cases over an interval of four years from 2009–2012. The presence of hyoid fractures was found to be very rare in cases where cause of death was attributed to hanging.

Lagenaria siceraria known as ‘Bottle gourd’, ‘Lauki’, or ‘Ghea’ and Momordica charantia known as ‘bitter melon’, ‘bitter gourd’, ‘bitter squash’, ‘Karela’, which are common vegetables used in the Indian household, have been used as antihyperglycemic agents in the treatment of diabetes. They both belong to Cucurbitaceae family and contain Triterpenoid cucurbitacins, which are responsible for bitter taste, are cytotoxic and can cause toxic effects on consumption. We report a case of a diabetic couple who collapsed with hemetemesis and bloody diarrhea after consuming the combination of bottle gourd and bitter melon. They started using the same daily after watching a TV program 4 years back. The husband died and the wife survived. Similar cases have been reported in the past, where self medication by the similar juices have resulted in the toxicity and poisoning of the patients.

Morquio Syndrome is an autosomal recessive disease, categorized as Type-IV Mucopolysaccharidosis. The Mucopolysaccharidosis are a group of syndromes that results from deficiencies of lysosomal enzymes involved in the degradation of mucopolysaccharides (glycosaminoglycans), resulting in their accumulation in various parts of the body. In case of Morquio syndrome, the glycosaminoglycan that accumulates in the connective tissue is Keratan sulphate. The disease can lead to various complications, out of which more risks are associated with cervical myelopathy, restrictive pulmonary disease and cardiac disease. We report a case of six year old male suffering from Morquio syndrome having classical features like pigeon chest, Knock-knee deformity, coarse facial features and hepatomegaly. The parents had consanguineous marriage and two out of their children were affected.The boy was suffering from recurrent chest infections and died as a result of bilateral pulmonary pneumonitis. The individuals having Morquio Syndrome should be considered as high risk cases for the chest infections and should be treated accordingly.

The present study was undertaken in order to describe histopathological changes by studying risk factors which will lead to development of ARDS. We investigated a total of 50 cases (31 males) ranging in age from 18–63 years. The extent of diffuse alveolar damage, a classical histopathological manifestation of ARDS was assessed. Burns was the most commonly presented risk factor constituting 34% of the total cases. Overall extra pulmonary cases were 78% and pulmonary cases constituted 22% of total number of cases. Gross examination showed 7 cases of consolidation and 4 cases of superficial hemorrhage. On histopathology, 8 cases showed hyaline membranes, Interstitial and Intra-alveolar edema and inflammation and Intra alveolar hemorrhage. In 4 cases, findings of type 2 pneumocyte proliferations were present. 42 cases showed no significant findings. Overall, 1 case of septicemia, 2 cases of major trauma with shock,4 cases of burns, 1 case of aspiration of gastric contents were found positive for ARDS. 8 cases (16%) fulfilled histopathological criteria for diagnosis of ARDS in our study. Study described etiologic and histopathological basis of ARDS, and summarizes our understanding of how the co-relation exists between postmortem histopathological findings with known risk factors of ARDS. We conclude that autopsy in cases with risk factors for ARDS will help in diagnosis & better understanding of the condition.