A death due to faulty airbag system-case report.

Injuries due to automobile safety devices have been reported and we report a rare fatality due to a defective airbag system. A compact hybrid car driven by a 37-year-old male at moderate speed had crashed through an unprotected manhole. The car had moved around 200 m before it came to a halt.

Child sexual abuse unmasked due to vaginal foreign body: case review.

Vaginal foreign body (VFB) can be a routine presentation to a pediatric unit, especially with associated vaginal discharge. Although it can be rare, this case series highlights that child sexual abuse (CSA) should not be ignored as a possibility when such a presentation is investigated. In the first case, an 11-year-old school girl presented with vaginal discharge and urinary symptoms, which was revealed to be due to a vesico-vaginal fistula secondary to an intra-vaginal foreign body, which was a plastic cap.

Frontal sinus pattern analysis for human identification using non-contrast computed tomography images: A Sri Lankan experience.

Objective: Morphometry of frontal sinuses has been studied extensively in many countries. However, these findings cannot be generalized due to genetic and environmental factors affecting the skeletal structure. The main aim of this study was to morphometrically analyze the frontal sinuses in patients who underwent non-contrast computed tomography (NCCT) skull imaging at Teaching Hospital Peradeniya and to assess its association with age and sex.

Infantile Appendicitis: A Deceptive Challenge with Disastrous Consequences.

Acute appendicitis (AA) in neonates and infants is an infrequent event. In day-to-day practice, death due to AA is hardly ever reported to a coroner or a medical examiner. Here, we report on an 8-month-old infant assigned to the medical examiner as the death occurred within 10 days of a surgical procedure.

Ammonia Exposure: A Review of Six Cases.

Exposure to high doses of ammonia gas can result in lethal injuries to humans. This case series presents 5 fatalities and an injured individual, caused by acute ammonia exposure, which occurred in the rubber industry. One of the fatalities and the survivor were reported in an incident of ammonia gas cylinder explosion, whereas the other 4 fatalities were accidentally exposed to gaseous ammonia, where they had started working at a reopened rubber factory that had been abandoned for a long time.

Asphyxia using a piece of a sarong at a psychiatric unit: a case of self-strangulation.

Self-strangulation should be cautiously determined following a comprehensive death investigation because the circumstance of strangulation is usually homicide. The deceased was a 33-year-old male who suffered from depression and was found missing from a psychiatric unit while on treatment. The deceased was found the following day in the doctors' car park of the unit.

Unexpected deadly outcome of a body packer - a case of drowning and illegal drug trafficking with review.

The human body is often used for illegal drug trafficking around the world. This may be done by concealing the drugs inside the body, so-called "body packing". This can lead to life-threatening conditions, mainly by leakage of the illegal substances in lethal amounts into the circulation system, which may cause fatal consequences due to acute drug overdose.

Suspicious scars: physical child abuse vs Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.

Child abuse is a sensitive topic among many medical practitioners and the diagnosis of this entity requires awareness about conditions which can mimic physical child abuse. Here, the authors present a case of a 13-year-old school non-attendee who was referred due to multiple scars, over areas prone to accidental as well as non-accidental injury, who underwent medicolegal examination due to suspicion of physical child abuse. On further inquiry, it was discovered that she had easy bruising and poor wound healing.

A child with imperforate anus for twelve years: a case report of neglect and exploitation.

We report a unique and rare case of child neglect and exploitation and similar case was not found. An infant, born with an imperforate anus, underwent surgery for a temporary colostomy on the day of birth. Surgery for reversal of colostomy with reconstruction was planned at one month of age.

A tree branch instead of a ligature: an unusual accidental hanging.

A unique case of accidental hanging due to compression of the neck of an adult by the branches of a coffee tree is reported. The decedent was a 42-year-old male who was found dead in a semi prone position on a slope. His neck was lodged in a wedge formed by two branches of a coffee tree, with his legs angled downwards on the slope.

Unexpected sudden death in pregnancy - arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy/dysplasia: a case report.

Cardiovascular disease is an important contributor to maternal mortality in both developing and developed countries. Systematic search for cardiac disease is usually not performed during pregnancy despite hypertensive disease, undiagnosed pulmonary hypertension and cardiomyopathies being recognized as major health problems in these settings. This article reported a 27-year-old female who was normal on clinical examination and basic investigations, and on an antenatal visit was found collapsed in the toilet of her house and was pronounced dead on admission to hospital.

Practice of forensic medicine and pathology in Sri Lanka.

The practice of forensic medicine and pathology in Sri Lanka is based on the British model. Medical students during their third and fourth years receive approximately 50 hours of lectures and tutorials in forensic medicine and pathology and then undergo an examination. After completing an internship, these doctors are sent to various hospitals throughout Sri Lanka where they may be asked to perform medicolegal examinations on victims and suspects in rape cases, persons suspected of being under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol, and, injured live patients.