DECAPITATION INJURIES ON RAILWAYTRACK
Keywords:
Decapitation, Railway accident, suicideAbstract
Objectives: Decapitation or complete severance of head from the body is imminently a fatal condition and is commonly encountered in railway accidents predominantly associated with decapitation by wheels of trains or with postmortem dismemberment following homicide. Deaths with decapitation lead to a complex forensic investigation in which the forensic pathologist plays a major role as a point of reference in the execution of a full and correct inquest. A differentiation between decapitation due to suicide, accident, homicide or mutilation of a body after death by another cause on autopsy. Methods: Three case reports with decapitation of head of which two incidents occurred involving the fall on railway track and one of the victims committed suicide by jumping from Delhi Metro train.
References
Valsala K., C. S. Sreedevi, Sreelekshmi J. Analysis of railway track deaths-an autopsy based study. Int J Res Med Sci. 2017 Mar;5(3):935-939. Accessed at www.msjonline.org
Dinesh Rao. An Autopsy Evaluation of Complete Decapitation Injuries, Int J Forensic SciPathol. 2015;3(40):99-104
Decapitation”. Online Etymology Dictionary. en .wikip ed ia .o rg /wiki/A tla n to - o ccip ita l_
Retrieved 2017-07-19.
Byard RW. Gilbert JD. Characteristic features of deaths due to decapitation. Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 2004 Jun;25(2):129-30.
(Atlanto-occipital dislocation - Wikipedia. https:// 6. Blows Head Off with Dynamite?. The Rhinelander Daily News. April 2, 1937. p. 7. Retrieved September 29, 2014 – via Newspapers.com
Umesh-Babu R, Kiran J. Accidental Decapitation; a Case Report . International Journal of Medical Toxicology and Forensic Medicine. 2015;5(1): 36-8.
Guillotine death was suicide 2003. BBC News. Retrieved 26 September 2008
Francis Larson (2014) Severed: a history of heads lost and heads found Live right (1st Edtn). Cited in Dinesh Rao. An Autopsy Evaluation of Complete Decapitation Injuries, Int J Forensic SciPathol. 2015;3(40):99-104
Ann Fabian (2014)” Losing our Heads” review of Larson, s Severed Chronicle of Higher Education 1[1]. Cited in Dinesh Rao. An Autopsy Evaluation of Complete Decapitation Injuries, Int J Forensic SciPathol. 2015;3(40):99-104
J.S.Dalal, H.R. Tejpal, Ashok Chanana, Kirpal Singh, PuneetKhurana and PuneetArora. Homicidal Cases Reported as Railway Accidents. JIAFM, 2006: 28 (4)
Mohanty MK, Panigrahi MK, Mohanty S, Patnaik
Türk EE, Püschel K, Tsokos M. Features
KK. Death due to traumatic railway injury. Med Sci Law. 2007;47:156-60
characteristic of homicide in cases of complete decapitation. Am J For Med Pathol. 2004; 25(1):83-86
Lin PT, Gill JR. Subway train-related fatalities in New
Zoja R, Battistini A, Gentile G. Death with complete
York City: accident versus suicide. J Forensic Sci. 2009;54:1414–8. 5.
Lerer LB, Matzopoulos RG. Fatal railway injuries in
decapitation: Report of four suicides by train. Am J Forensic Med Pathol 2009, 30(3): 303-3
Cape Town, South Africa. Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 1997;18:144–7
M. Tsokos, E.E. Türk, S. Uchigasaki, K. Püschel. Pathologic features of suicidal complete decapitations. Health Advance 2004 Jan: 139(2-3):95-102
Milovanovic´ M. Sudskamedicina-drugideo. 2nd ed.
Shorrock K. Suicidal decapitation by guillotine. Am J Forensic Med and Pathol. 2002; 23(1):54-56.
Rastogi P. Railway Accident - Complete Decapitation, JPAFMAT 2007; 7(1):35-37
Bahadýr Kumral, YalçýnBüyük, ÜmitN. Gündoðmuþ, EsatÞahýn, M.FeyziÞahýn. Medico-legal evaluation of deaths due to decapitation. Rom J Leg Med Beograd: Nauc¡naknjiz¡araScientia; 1933. Cited in Slobodan Nikolic´ • Vladimir Z¡ivkovic. A train-related
;20:251-254
Rashid AF, Aggarwal A, Aggarwal OP and Kaur B. fatality-old dilemmas: accident, suicide, or homicide? Premortem or postmortem decapitation? Forensic Sci Accidental decapitation-an urban legend turned true. Egyptian J Forensic Sci
Med Patholnov 2013
El-Miloudi El-Koursi and Jean-Luc Bruyelle. Railway
Rothschild M, Schneider V. Decapitation as a result of suicidal hanging. Forensic Sci Int. 1999;106(1):55-62.
Accident Prevention and Infrastructure Protection. Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture2016; 10: 96-107.