Management of Mass Death in COVID-19 Pandemic in an Indian Perspective.

Current international experience has shown the vulnerability of health-care systems of developed nations, and of developing nations such as India, to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). COVID-19 pandemic is a disaster with mass casualties. International experience has revealed that, even in the countries where mass disasters are less frequent and not involved in conflicts, they are overwhelmed with COVID-19 deaths. Although, in the current scenario with fewer deaths, India's health-care system can handle the situation of COVID-19 but should be prepared for the worst in terms of appropriate management, and adequate infection prevention measures including handling the dead without hampering the dignity of the deceased and of the surviving family. Before any crisis overwhelms responders and resources, emergency response plans should be established and activated to ensure the reliable identification and documentation of the dead. The current review was carried out to recommend the proper management of dead bodies in the COVID-19 mass disaster with a particular focus on resource-poor countries, such as India.

Timing of death of a dead born foetus determined at medico-legal autopsy refuted the allegation of medical negligence.

The case concerns a dead newborn. The family alleged that his death was due to delay in delivery by the attending doctors. Medico-legal autopsy was performed three days later which showed maceration changes suggestive of the foetus lying dead-in-utero for about 24 h which prima facie refuted the allegation of negligence.

Homicide by Multiple Fatal Methods: A Study From South Delhi, India.

Homicide studies traditionally analyze the prevalence and patterns of homicide by exploring the age and sex of victims, the relationship between victims and perpetrators, and the cause of death. Use of a combination of more than one homicidal method was also found in various studies. Some of them found females as more common victims of multiple methods, whereas the others found males. Combination of methods commonly involved were sharp trauma, blunt trauma, and strangulation. This study was undertaken to know the pattern of homicide by multiple fatal methods at South Delhi. We have analyzed retrospective data of homicidal deaths in which multiple different fatal methods were used. We have also analyzed the number of perpetrators involved in those scenarios. The cases were autopsied at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi during the 20-year period from January 1996 and December 2015. There were 187 such reported cases where multiple methods were used for homicide, constituting 13.6% of all homicide deaths autopsied at the department. Multiple methods were used more commonly against female victims. Methods used in cases of male victims were the combination of head injury and stabbing in the chest/abdomen, followed by strangulation with smothering, whereas in cases of female victims, it was a combination of ligature strangulation and smothering which was most common, followed by the combination of smothering with throttling. Gunshot with stabbing was found to be a rare combination. A single perpetrator mostly used various asphyxial methods in combination or head injury with other methods such as stabbing and asphyxiation against male as well as female victims. Other combinations of methods, especially sharp weapon injury with blunt weapon injury or gunshot injury, suggest the involvement of more than one perpetrator.

Homicidal methanol poisoning in filicide-suicide.

Most methanol poisonings are accidental. We present a rare case of filicide-suicide, where a youth was killed by methanol poisoning and his parents then committed suicide by jumping in front of a running train. The father's suicide note explains the crime.

Deaths Due to Accidental Air Conditioner Compressor Explosion: A Case Series.

In an air-conditioning system, the compressor is a large electric pump that pressurizes the refrigerant gas as part of the process of turning it back into a liquid. The explosion of an air conditioner (AC) compressor is an uncommon event, and immediate death resulted from the blast effect is not reported in forensic literature. We report three such cases in which young AC mechanics were killed on the spot due to compressor blast, while repairing the domestic split AC unit. The autopsy findings, the circumstances leading to the explosion of the compressor, are discussed in this study.

Sudden death of a child due to pyogenic bacterial myocarditis.

Bacterial myocarditis is an uncommon condition and only a few fatal cases in adults are reported in the scientific literature. Death from acute bacterial myocarditis in children is extremely rare. We report an unusual case of fatal bacterial myocarditis in a seven-year-old girl, who had a history of cough for a month and fever for two days. She was given symptomatic treatment by a local physician without suspecting her clinical condition. Her condition rapidly deteriorated and she was brought in dead to the hospital. Autopsy revealed pyogenic bacterial myocarditis associated with bilateral lobar pneumonia caused by Gram-positive cocci. Death from bacterial myocarditis can be prevented by early diagnosis and appropriate antibiotics.

Spur on posterior arch of atlas with fatal spinal cord compression - a case report

The atlas vertebra has many developmental variations in its structure, mainly on its posterior arch with prevalence varying from 0.69% to 4%. It includes a spur on the anterior arch, a thickened anterior arch, posterior pointiculus and incomplete posterior arch among others. Some of the variations are associated with spinal stenosis, such as hypoplastic arch and ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament. The anomalies are generally asymptomatic, but occasionally cause neck pain, and rarely myelopathy. In the case reported here, a spur was present in the midline on the anterior surface of the posterior arch of the atlas. This led to gradual compression of the cervical spinal cord with progressive quadriplegia, numbness and death. Myelopathy was confirmed by histopathology

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Triple hanging in filicide-suicide: an unusual case report.

Filicide-suicide is a special category of homicide-suicide event where the victim(s) are children and the perpetrator is one of the parents or both. It is not extensively documented or adequately defined in literature. In developed countries, shooting is a common method of homicide and suicide. Uses of knives, blunt objects, strangulation, poisoning and drowning are other methods frequently employed by the perpetrator. Homicide by hanging in filicide-suicide is rarely reported in forensic literature. We present a rare case of filicide-suicide, where the mother killed both her children by hanging them one by one from a ceiling fan in the same room and later committed suicide by hanging in another room.