Chapter 5 Flashcards
Refers to the damage inflicted on “any part of the body due to deliberate or accidental application of mechanical or other traumatic agent. “
PHYSICAL INJURY
Is a disruption of the continuity of tissues and lining epithelium (layer of the skin) produced by external mechanical force.
WOUND
Is used synonymously with wound, but former can have a wider meaning, which encompasses not only damage produces by physical force, but also damage produced by other means such as heat, cold, chemicals, electricity, and radiation
INJURY
Case that should be labled as medico-legal
Suspected or evident poisoning
Burn injuries due to any cause
Cases referred by courts
Injuries can be classified according to cause, namely, __________, ____________, _______________, ____________, and ____________.
- Blunt force Injuries
- Sharp Force Injuries
- Gunshot Injuries
- Burns
- Head injuries
The Four(4) Abdominopelvic Quadrants
- Right Upper Quadrant
- Left Upper Quadrant
- Right Lower Quadrant
- Left Lower Quadrant
The Nine(9) Abdominopelvic Divisions
- Right Hypochondriac
- Right Lumbar
- Right Inguinal (or the right iliac)
- Epigastric
- Umbilical
- Hypogastric
- Left Hypochondriac
- Left Lumbar
- The left inguinal (or left iliac)
Are those resulting from force contact with a blunt object, such as fists, hammers, baseball, bat, furniture, floors, roads, trees, or the interior surfaces of vehicles.
BLUNT FORCE INJURIES
Three(3) main types of Blunt Force Injuries
- Abrasions
- Contusions or bruises
- Lacerations
Are also known as scrapes, scratches, or grazes. They refer to superficial injuries involving only the outer layer of the skin, they do not penetrate the full thickness of the epidermis.
ABRASIONS
Are broad patches, the frictional element of which gave rise to the term brush burns.
BRUSH ABRASIONS
Is a linear abrasion produced by drawing a sharp point over the surface of the skin or mucous membrane.
Example: Plant thorns, barbed wire, human fingernails, animal claws.
SCRATCH
also known as bruise or ecchymoses, refers to the discoloration resulting from hemorrhage beneath the skin, tissue, or mucosa, without any associated breach in the surface.
CONTUSIONS
Tend not to accurately reflect the shape of the object that produced them and they changed shape with time.
CONTUSIONS
May change as they age before finally fading away.
CONTUSIONS
fresh bruise is typically ________ (color of venous blood) and soon turns to a _________.
- Dark Red
- Dusky Purple
Contusions having __________ or ________ margins are three or more days.
- Green
- Yellow
Is the gravitational pool of blood within the blood vessels after death may be confused with bruising.
POST-MORTEM LIVIDITY
Are small punctuate hemorrhage are very small contusions. They are minute raledish or purple spots containing blood that appears in the skin and mucous membrane as a result of localized hemorrhage.
Petechiae or Petechial hemorrhage
Are so called “love-bites” (also called hickies in American slang or chikinini in Filipino). These are superficial contusions produced by the negative pressure of mouth suction.
ECCHYMOSES
The extravasated blood collects as a discrete tumor like pool, defined as a focal space occupying collection of blood that expands and/or distorts the tissue configuration.
HEMATOMA
Different types of hematomas identified:
Subdermal Hematoma(under the skin)
Othematoma(cartilage of the ear)
Perichondral Hematoma(ear)
Perianal Hematoma(anus)
Subungual Hematoma(nail)
Head/Brain
Head/Brain Hematomas
- CEPHALOHEMATOMA(periosteum and skull)
- EPIDORAL HEMATOMA (skull and the dura mater)
- SUBDURAL HEMATOMA (dura mater and arachnoid mater)
- SUBARACHNOID HEMATOMA (arachnoid mater an pia mater)
- SUBGALEA HEMATOMA (aponeurosis and periosteum)
Refers to the splitting of the tissues and the fourceful tearing of the skin when an object impacts the skin with a force that exceeds its elastic capacity.
LACERATIONS
Refer to damage to tissues or organs by objects or weapons with sharp edges or pointed ends. They are generally classified into three namely; incised, stab, and chop wounds.
SHARP FORCE INJURIES
-Refers to cuts or slices caused by a sharp-edged object that impacted the body in an approximately parallel or tangential direction.
- usually have clean edges, minimum bruising and no bridging of nerves or vessels. Wounds tend to be straight and longer than their depth with no contusions and abrasions.
INCISIONS OR INCISED WOUNDS
It is the result of a pointed or sharp and pointed force inward. It is also called puncture, perforating or penetrating wounds. The direction of force is usually perpendicular to desk Kien skin surface. It is often caused by weapon being thrust at into a victim. However a stab wounds may also be the result of a moving body against a relatively stationary pointed object.
STAB WOUNDS
Tends to produce an elliptical wound with sharp edges and clean cut ends.
Dagger with a sharp point and double-edged blades.
May cause squaring or fishtailing of one extremity of the wound caused by the con-cutting back of the blade.
Single-edged blade of the kitchen knife.
The wound looks more rounded with bruising surrounding the margins.
Pair of scissors used for stabbing
Our cost by objects leave the relatively sharp edges (example hatchet, axe, Tomahawk, boat propeller or lawn mower blade) possessing a reasonable weight resulting in a combination of sharp and blunt force injuries at the point of impact.
CHOP WOUNDS
Tend to have an incised appearance on the skin surface with associated bruises, abrasions and significant underlying blunt trauma.
CHOP WOUNDS
Refer to injuries sustained by victims attempting to defend themselves from attack. The wounds are often found on the victim’s fingers, hands, forearms and upper arms.
DEFENSIVE WOUNDS
May include not only for sharp force injuries, but also blunt force injuries and gunshot wounds. They are highly suggestive of homicide.
DEFENSIVE INJURIES
Self inflection of shallow cuts as a form of self harm, which falls short of attempted suicide, are parallel, shallowly incused wounds that heal and leave multiple, fine, horizontal, linear white scars
SELF INFLICTED WOUNDS
Refers to those caused by projectiles (missiles or bullets? fired from guns.)
FIREARM INJURIES
When a bullet or projectile has entered, but not exited the body it is termed as ____________.
PENETRATING
If the projectile has passed completely through the body it is termed as ______________.
PERFORATING
Are influenced by the caliber of the weapon and the distance from the gun to the victim.
WOUND CHARACTERISTICS
Basic structure of a firearm
- Grip
- Barrel
- Trigger
The appendage designed to be held in order to use the gun. It is that portion of the mechanism that held by the hand and orients the hand in a forward, vertical orientation, similar to the position one would take with a conventional pistol.
THE GRIP
Serves multiple functions such as magazine housing or bipod.
GRIP
The tube through which a bullet travels when a gun is fired.
THE BARREL
The lever that activates the firing mechanism of a gun.
TRIGGER
The 3 basic types of firearms
- HAND GUNS
- RIFFLES
- SHOT GUNS
Are weapons with short barrels that can generally be held and controlled with one hand.
HANDGUNS
Long-barrelled firearms that are available in different models with a variety of ammunition.
RIFFLES
Two general categories of Riffles
- RIM FIRE OR LOW-VELOCITY RIFFLE
- CENTER FIRE OR HIGH-VELOCITY RIFFLE
Which is used in hunting small game and is commonly 22 caliber.
RIM FIRE OR LOW-VELOCITY RIFFLE
Which is used in hunting and in war and has a higher muzzle velocity, typically, in the 2000 to three thousand five hundred feet second range
CENTER FIRE OR HIGH-VELOCITY RIFFLE
Long guns with smooth (non-rifled) barrels; these are designed to fire a shell containing a single large lead slug or lead pellets that, on exiting the barrel spread out in a cone like distribution to cover a large surface area.
SHOTGUN
Generally 2 types of ammunition utilized in shotguns
- SHOTS
- SLUG
Which are spherical metal(lead or steel) pellets that are available in a variety of sizes ranging from “bird-shot” (diameter of 0.05-0.22 in) to large “buckshot” (diameter box 0.24.0.36 in).
SHOTS
The shot pellets that are contained within a shot-shell cartridge where the collection of pellets overlies various form, which separates the pellets from the underlying gunpowder.
WADDING
Is a single, large piece of metal (usually lead) that is fired from the weapon
SLUG
Is an important factor in firearms identification. It varies depending on the manufacturer of the guns. The rifling consist of spiral grooves that cut the length of the interior of bore of the barrel.
BARREL OF THE GUN
It’s a projectile that is spot fired from a gun. It came from French word “boulette” (a small ball), reflecting the fact that original projectiles were small leads spheres, or the so-called musket ball.
BULLET
The science of the motion of projectiles and a basic knowledge of it is essential for an examiner to have a proper understanding of wounds caused by firearms.
BALLISTICS
Refers to the study of the effects of penetrating projectiles on the body.
WOUND BALLISTICS
It is a penetrating wound that leaves a skin defect where the projectile passes through the skin. As a general general rule, a gunshot exit wound is a larger and more irregular than a gunshot entry wound due to the effect of bullet tumbling and bullet deformation.
GUNSHOT WOUND
If the bullet strikes an intermediate object, it will cause the bullet to yaw or tumble and will create an irregular shaped entrance hole.
KEYHOLE ENTRANCE
A typical entrance wound has a round or oval shaped skin defect surrounded by a rimof abrasion. The abrasion ring appears reddish brown that can darken to almost black with post-mortem drying.
ABRASION COLLAR OR CIRCUMFERENTIAL MARGINAL ABRASION
Refers to small bruises or punctate wounds on the skin.
GUNPOWDER STIPPLING
Occurs when particles of burn or unburned gunpowder are embedded into the skin.
GUNPOWDER TATOOING
Tend to be relatively small. The projectile traverses the body, producing a laceration upon exit. Such wounds can have a variety of shapes, such as slit-like t9 comma-shaped, X-shaped or irregularly shaped.
EXIT WOUNDS FROM LOW VELOCITY FIREARMS
Tend to be larger than the corresponding entrance wounds and usually consist of lacerations with unbruised and unabraded margins.
EXIT BULLET WOUNDS
Are accompanied by particles of unburnt powder, flame smoke gas, es wads,and cards
PELLETS
Which are produces by the crushing or scraping of the skin.
ABRASIONS
Occurs when the elastic limit of subcutaneous blood vessels is exceeded so that they tear and bleed.
CONTUSIONS OR BRUISES
Involves a greater force to tear the skin.
LACERATIONS
