LESSON №5
Theme: FORENSIC INVESTIGATION OF INJURIES CAUSED BY
BLUNT OBJECTS .
Aim: You should to investigate and to describe damages caused by blunt
objects, to determine the type of the objects and compose forensic conclusion.
Professional motivation:
Numerous blunt objects very often can be applied as an implement of
trauma during homicide, assault etc. Law disclosing of the criminal offences in
that cases brings forensic expert attention to the question of kind of the damage
or trauma mechanism. According to this every physician must know
morphological features of the soft tissue damages or internal organs and bones
injuries, which caused by different blunt objects. Besides, every doctor must
correctly to describe them in medical documents, to determine the type of the
objects and mechanism of its action on the body etc. The decision of these
questions has an important significance not only in practical doctors’ activity but
also it plays a basic role in exposure of criminal offences against human life and
health. That is why the theme is actual and necessary for students.
Basic level of knowledge: During the preparation every students must
know:
1. Anatomical and topographical peculiarities of the body.
2. An essence such notions as trauma and traumatism.
3. Morphological appearances of inflammation, bleeding etc.
4. Morphological and clinical features of abrasions, scratch, bruises,
wounds, fractures.
Students’ Independent Study Program:
During preparation to the lesson it’s necessary to study such basic questions:
1. Definition and classification of the blunt objects.
The objects, which have been operating on human body by its traumatizing
surface, squeeze, deform, drag apart the tissue, causing them typical damages –
abrasions, scratches, bruises, wounds, breaks, fractures, etc. we name as blunt.
Contradistinguish such types of blunt objects (for А.І.Muhanov, 1974, and
1988):
1) Objects with flat prevalent surface.
2) Objects with flat limited surface.
3) Objects with sphere surface.
4) Objects with cylindrical surface.
5) Objects with trihedral corner.
6) Objects with rib or dihedral corner.
2. Abrasions and their forensic significance.
Abrasion is called a mechanical superficial skin damage to basal (growing)
layer whether mucous tissue. Thin, linear, sometimes broken, abrasions are
called scratches. In mechanism of abrasion formation the main role plays sliding
(friction), object motion on body surface or parts of body on object surface
attached to small pressure.
Abrasions have various forms, but prevail upon indeterminate form, round,
oblong, like ribbon, broken for object sliding counting.
А.І.Кrаt and V.M.Rubin (1982 y.) offered to distinguish such stages and
periods in cicatrisation of abrasions, which accomplishes into following middle
dates:
1. stage - a fresh abrasion (first day);
2. stage - formation of crusta: 1st period – crusta is beneath unharmed skin
whether on its level (1-2 day); 2nd period - crusta rises over level of ambient
skin (3-8 day);
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3. stage - falling away of crusta: 1st period - the edges of crusta few
elevated (6-10 day); 2nd period - crusta partially fell away (8-15 day); 3rd
period - a full crusta felling away (11-18 day);
4. Stage - traces from the abrasion (on 30-150 day).
3. Bruises and their forensic significance.
The bruise is the effusion of blood into skin thickness, mucous layer
whether
fatty
tissue
base
that
looks
over
with
outpoured
blood.
Contradistinguish the own bruises, haematoma, petechiae and ecchymosis. The
own bruises are superficial and deep. Superficial bruises loud already after 2030 min after trauma, and their intensity and dimensions augment while blood
outpours. Deep effusions of blood at first do not look over the skin and into first
2-3 days after trauma can not to appear.
Haematoma is the limited deposit of blood in tissues, that some heaves up
skin or mucous envelope and forms for tissue layers moving apart counting
whether organs thickness.
Petechiae are the shallow, like-drop, round form effusions of blood of red
colour into skin whether mucous envelope.
Ecchymosis are more large, limited, non-formed hemorrhage of red color
into skin, serose whether mucous layers.
The size of bruises is different - from small ("dropped") to extraordinarily
4. Wounds and their forensic significance.
Wounds are the mechanical skin whether mucous envelopes damages with
violation of safety of all their thickness and worming into fatty base, sometimes
- into muscles whether cavity.
The wounds are cut, hewed, chipped, chipped-cut, lacerated, fastened with
nails, gun-fired et al. The wound has the edges, ends (corners), walls, bottom
and wound channel (for example, in chipped whether gun-fired wounds).
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5. Forensic aspects of fractures and internal organs’ damages.
Fractures is called a full or partial violation of bone whether cartilage
safety, a result of fast-acting considerable force, as a rule, are generated attached
to action on bone of blunt object and beginnings by reason of it such
deformation appearances: bend, thrust (cut), tension, compression whether
twisting. In forensic-medical practice often meet and are in great importance the
skull bone, long finite nesses bone and ribs fractures.
A.I. Muchanov (1988) picks out such types of damages of internal organs.
Slaughter (contusion) is damage in appearance of effusions of blood of
different localization by reason of violation of parenchyma organ safety attached
to uncrippled capsule. Crack is linear superficial sinuous damage of capsule of
parenchyma organ and thin layer of its parenchyma. Tear is more deep, but in
case of compression of edges also linear damage, which does not arrive at organ
middle. Break is more deep damage; may be incomplete, when parts of organ
are joint by capsule and thin layer of parenchyma (less 1/4 of general organ
thickness), and full, when an organ is parted totally or between its parts
remained only capsule pieces. Tearing off is a full compartment of internal
organ by reason of breaks its fixative tie, vessels and crushing, etc. Crushing is
the destruction of the part of internal organ with transformation of its tissue into
pappy mass or into a lot of shallow deformed morsels.
Contradistinguish the local and remote damages of internal organs.
6. Forensic diagnostics in cases of falling from height.
Properties and heaviness of damages depend on height of fall, body mass,
peculiarities of the surface on which body bumps, from body allotments, on
which blow was taken, from that, whether was fall straight whether successive,
and from other factors.
Pick out three man fall variants:
● fall on plane or from height of own growth, under man motion time by
step, attached to fast walking, running;
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● fall from some meters and some ten of meters: from houses windows,
into shoots clear space, from balconies, multistory buildings, bridges, from
trees, etc;
● fall from bumper height (ten and hundreds meters ).
Fall on plane can happen from stand-up regulation, attached to walking or
running.
Fall on plane from height of own growth is a typical trauma of persons in
state of alcoholic intoxication.
So-and-so, the typical general fall signs from great height are: disparity of
external damages to internal attached to considerable dominance last, numerous
signs of general body shock (multilocal, spotty effusions of blood into fixative
vehicle of internal organs, their intercourses, gates, are reproached; parallel
cracks disposition, tears whether breaks of parenchyma organs), as a rule, onesided, damages localization.
7. The signs of supervital damages origin.
If from wound moment passed few days or hours, then settlement of
question as to the supravitality of trauma origin does not bring on difficulties.
Considerably difficult, and sometimes impossibly to solve a question when
damage happened in agony period or just after coming in death.
Damage supravitality (or trauma is supravital) - damage, which grew up in
living man. The signs of supravital damages origin are:
● considerable external whether internal bleeding indicating on activity
the hearts;
● general expressed corpse anemia, Minakov’s blot:
● vertical blood streams on cloths whether body and blood sparks on
ambient objects;
● aspiration and swallowing of blood attached to neck organs wound,
skull base bone fractures;
● finding of blood in urinary bladder attached to its safety and damage of
kidneys;
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● parenchyma-cellular, osseous whether air, fatty embolism of lungs and
heart, thrombosis of shallow vessels;
● retraction (abbreviation) of tissues in wound allotment, abbreviation of
muscles like humps attached to dismemberment of body;
● thick blood thrombs, effusions of blood into soft tissues in damages
allotment;
● presence ardently-proliferate processes in tissues;
● traumatic (inflammatory) edema;
● finding erythrocytes and cells, containing hemosyderine, in the regional
lymphatic glands, etc.
Visual Aids and Material Tools:
1. Charts: The objects of research are museum anatomic samples (the
parts of human bodies: examples of skin, inner organs, born of skeleton) with
different damages caused by blunt objects, numbers educational tables,
microscopes.
Students’
Practical
Activities:
lessons
goes
like
independent
investigation by each student of definite object -the parts of human bodies:
examples of skin, inner organs, born of skeleton with different damages caused
by blunt objects and its histological samples. We need to research it and to give
in “Conclusions” the answer to following questions:
1.
What injuries are found at object, its type (abrasions, bruises,
wounds, fractures as cracks, slights tear, breaks etc.)?
2.
What object (-s) the injury is caused by (its group and type)?
[Due to inner organs – from what local or remote action the
damages are, for fractures of long finite nesses bone-to define the
type of deformation.]
3.
From what action the damages are – beat, pressure, contusion
etc.?
4.
Are damages arising supravital or just after coming death?
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5.
What degree of heaviness of such damages and its connection
with death?
Doing this work you have to find the sing which help you sciences to
substantiate all answers to questions. You must describe it in” Act of
forensic-medical research of object” which includes two parts: protocol
(entry, previous information, object’s investigation) signed by physician
and summary (conclusions) signed by physician and certify stamp.
The work begins from entry part of document and previous
information. At entry the date, city, surname and initials of physician, post
and surname of person for whose request there is investigation, number
and date of previous outcome organs, place of spending of investigation,
object which is researches and asking questions.
At “Previous information” circumstance of events are pointed with
marked of its sources.
At “Investigation of object” we must describe its form, sizes, color,
regional specialties of surfaces, and properties of edge. At investigation of
damages its localization, type (bruise, wound, crack, fracture etc.), form,
sizes, morphologic specialties of edges, endings and surrounding tissue,
bottom and its color, the sings of hilling (they are or not) properties of
surrounding tissue are marked. And all describing is accompanying by
schema of object and injures.
Investigative object (besides bones) is research under microscopy with
describing of its results at the end of protocol part like “Microscope
investigation”.
At “Conclusions” you have to give ground answers to asking
questions due to protocol part of act.
At the end of lesson there is discussing of students work and
conclusions.
Student must know:
1. Modern forensic- medical classification of blunt objects.
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2. Mechanism and morphology of injures caused by blunt objects and
injures by falling from height.
3. General and typical signs of wounds caused by blunt objects
4. Types of deformation and mechanism of fractures of different bones
and its sings.
5. The sings of supravital injures and principles of definition of
remoteness of injures.
Student should be able to:
1. To describe injures caused by blunt object.
2. To diagnose type of blunt injures or type of deformation or mechanism
of bone fracture.
3. To arrange, formulate and ground the conclusion under the pretext of
injures caused by blunt objects
References:
1. Lecture.
Prepared by ass.-prof. Franchuk V.
Adopted at the Chair Sitting “ ___”______________2003, Minutes
Revised at the Chair Sitting “ ___”______________2003, Minutes
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