All India Pre PG Exam 11 January, 2009

Topics asked in this exam are as follows

1.Privileged Communication

2. Fire Arm Injury Stellate wound

3. Traumatic Asphyxia

4. Road Traffic Accident

5. Finger Prints

6. Abrasions

All the Question could be answered from the 3rd Edition of "Review of Forensic Medicine" so one more time its a 100% Strike Rate!

Lets see these topics in more detail:

Privileged Communication:( Page No 257 from 3rd Edn of R o F M )

• It is a statement communicated by a doctor to the concerned authority to protect the interest of the community of state.

• Examples of privileged communication

1. A syphilitic bath in a public pool

2. Engine or bus driver found to be colour blind

3. A person with infectious disease working as a cook.

4. A doctor’s duty is to notify birth, death, and infectious disease to public health authority.

• Exceptions to the General rule of Professional Secrecy is—“CIVIC SIN”:

1. C — Crime

I — Infections Disease

V — Veneral Disease

I — Interest (Self)

C — Courts of Law

S — Servant and Employee

I — Interest (Patients)

N — Negligence suits/Notifiable diseases

2.Wounds from shot-gun (Suggesting Range) Page No.66

Shape of wound Distance

1. Cruciate or Stellate shape

Contact over bone

2. Oval shape Upto 30 cm

3. Rat hole wound 30-100 cm

4. Satellite wound More than 2 metres

5. Individual pellets Over 4 metres

3. Traumatic Asphyxia ( Page no. 88 )

• Traumatic asphyxia results from respiratory arrest due to mechanical fixation of the chest*, so that the normal movement of the chest wall are prevented.

• Common cause is crushing by falls of earth in a coal mine or during tunnelling or in a building collapse

• An intense cyanosis of deep purple or purple red colour of the head, neck and upper chest, above the level of compression is the prominent feature

4. Pedestrians Injury ( Page 273 )
1)Primaryimpact: These are caused when first part of the strikes the vehicle

In the typical case, the victim is struck by the front of the vehicle and sustains so called bumper injury on legs

2)Secondary impact injuries: These are injuries cause by further impact by the the vehicle

3) Tertiary impact injuries (Secondary injuries) These are injuries caused when the victim striking objects such as the ground)

5.Dactylography(Page 18 )

Fingerprint system, Galton system, Dermatoglyphycs)

• Most reliable* method of identification of a person.

· First Finger Print Bureau* was established at Writer’s Building, Calcutta* ,India

• Fingerprints are impressions of pattern formed by the papillary ridges of the fingertips.

• Fingerprints are classified primarily as

1. Loops 67%(most common*)

2. Arches

3. Whorls

4. Composite forms–1-2% (least common*)

• Minimum no. of points to estd proof of identity is 8* (Supreme Court ruling*)

• The patterns are not inherited.

• The pattern is different even in identical twins. (Adolphe Quetelet’s Rule* of biological variation*)

Categories of Finger Prints

§ Latent Finger PrintsàBarely visible

§ Plastic Finger PrintsàPrints made on soft surface(Soap, cheese etc)

§ Visible Finger Printsà Stained with blood, greese etc

• In leprosy and Charring fingerprints may be lost*

Abrasions (Gravel Rash)

• An abrasion is destruction of the skin, which involves superficial layers of epidermis only.

• It has only length and breadth.

• The exposed raw surface is covered by exudation of lymph and blood, which produces a protective covering known as scab or crust.

Types

1. Scratches: These are caused by a sharp object passing across the skin, such as fingernails, pin or thorn.

2. Grazes: They are most common type* of abrasions. An abrasion caused by violent lateral rubbing by friction force* is called brush burn.

3. Impact Abrasion: They are caused by impact of a rough object such as a person is knocked down by a motor car.

4. Pressure Abrasion: They are caused by crushing of the superficial layers of the epidermis e.g. ligature mark of hanging.

Impact Abrasion and Pressure abrasions are also known as Patterned Abrasions*

Age of Abrasions*

1. Fresh —Bright red.

2. 12 to 24 hours—Lymph and blood dries up leaving a bright scab.

3. 2 to 3 days—Reddish-brown scab.*

4. 4 to 7 days—Epithelium grows and covers defect under the scab.

5. After 7 days—Scab dries, shrinks and falls out.

• In antemortem abrasions, intravital reaction and congestion is seen.

• Erosion of the skin produced by Ants, exco­riations of the skin by excreta and pressure sores resemble abrasions.