The Pattern of Physical Injuries among Victims of Fatal Accidents in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

Abstract

Background: The pattern of injuries is unique to the mode of the accident as well as to the causative agent.
The objective of the present study was to describe the pattern of injury among victims of a fatal accident and
draw a medicolegal conclusion from the pattern of injury. Methods: A total of 145 dead bodies brought for
autopsy at the two selected post-mortemcentres were included in the present study. The socio-demographic
data like age, sex, religion, occupation as well as the circumstances leading to the death of the individual
were gathered from documents and detailed interview of the friends/relatives/eyewitnesses etc.Among study
participants, burns were the single largest category of accidents closely followed by road traffic accidents. The
brain was the most common internal organ injured and the skull was the most common major bone fractured
among the victims. One-fourth of all study participants were dead before being brought to hospital and onethird
of all study participants survived for more than 48 hours after the incident. Conclusion: Septicaemic
shock and craniocerebral injury were the most common cause of death among study participants.