In response to the subject of forensic diagnosis of a human death caused by exposure to low-temperature water

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Examining corpses recovered from the water often poses challenges in forensic medical evaluation. AIM: To propose a clarifying set of differential diagnostic features characteristic of a fatal cold injury in low-water temperature conditions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Clinical observations, forensic examination of the corpses of patients who died from general hypothermia and drowning in ice water. RESULTS: A complex of the most apparent diagnostic signs for the differential diagnosis of acute deep hypothermia in water from other types of hypothermia and drowning was revealed. CONCLUSION: Morphofunctional changes in the internal organs have always been determined by hypothermias type, degree, and speed. The most characteristic signs of a fatal cold injury in low-water temperature conditions were determined by the state of the blood supply and the structure of organs and tissues. Pathological changes developed according to the type of edema, focal ischemia, and focal necrosis.

Keywords

• acute deep hypothermia
• cold injury
• “core of the body”
• drowning
• hypothermia