A Study on Victims of Intimate Partner Violence Reported to Colombo North Teaching Hospital, Sri Lanka During 2019-2021.

Introduction: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a common issue in any society and the reported cases are just the tip of an iceberg as most of the victims are reluctant to come to the criminal justice system. Forensic experts are often encountering the victims who chose to seek justice. Evaluation of the nature, consequences, and underlying factors are needed in planning preventive measures.

Medico legal and ethical aspects of surrogacy; A case report of a tragic maternal death from Sri Lanka.

A case report from Sri Lanka on surrogacy leading to a tragic maternal death; medico-legal and ethical aspects. Surrogacy, with multiple ethical and legal issues associated with it, is practised worldwide. Although regulations are not available in Sri Lanka, we report a woman who had a tragic death as a complication of surrogate pregnancy.

Alleged Homicidal Choking in a Woman Recovering From Guillain-Barré Syndrome.

Few reported cases of homicidal choking in medical literature involve aged, infants, and debilitated. Whenever an allegation is made, the forensic expert is expected to provide a balanced opinion based on scientific evidence. We report a sudden death of a woman recovering from Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), with an allegation of homicidal choking.

An Analysis of Medicolegal Reporting in Workman Injuries Referred for Medicolegal Examination in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Sri Lanka.

Introduction: A reasonable number of workman injuries are reported for medicolegal examination every year. In addition to report on the degree of severity and consistency of the injuries with the historical evidence, the medical officers are expected to opine on degree of disability as well. However, routine Medicolegal Examination Form or Report used in Sri Lanka to report these cases does not carry a section for disability or impairment.

Study on existence of inflammation in the myocardium in unequivocal acute traumatic deaths.

Background: Over-diagnosis of myocarditis is possible, where presence of scant/negligible inflammatory foci are interpreted as active myocarditis in autopsy cases. A Prospective descriptive study on 100 young healthy individuals who died of known sudden traumatic causes was performed to study the existence, frequency and severity of inflammatory foci in myocardium of a normal population who died suddenly of acute trauma, in order to develop an autopsy diagnostic criteria.

Results: Out of 100 hearts, 48 had scant inflammatory foci.

Knowledge, attitude and practice regarding the use of digital photographs in the examination of the dead and living among doctors practicing forensic medicine in Sri Lanka.

Background: Forensic medical photography alludes to creating images of injuries/ conditions to be used in the legal process. In many parts of the world obtaining digital forensic medical photographs are done by trained police officers. in Sri Lanka, such practice is not seen.

Death following ceftazidime-induced Kounis syndrome.

Kounis syndrome, also known as allergic myocardial infarction or allergic angina syndrome, coincides with chest pain and allergic reactions. It involves the activation of interrelated inflammatory cells following allergic, anaphylactic or anaphylactoid insults. We report a case of Kounis syndrome complicated by an injection of ceftazidime.

Relationship of sharp force injuries to motivation.

Forensic pathologists are often expected to provide an opinion on the intention of the assailant in sharp force fatalities. A retrospective study was carried out on reports of post-mortems of victims of sharp force trauma over five years. The position and type of injuries were recorded and related to the known motivation for murder.

Injuries in the vulnerable road user fatalities; a study from Sri Lanka.

Vulnerable Road Users defined as people at risk in traffic due to absence of an outside protective shield to absorb energy during a collision are mainly pedestrians, bicycle riders and motor cyclists. In low income countries, deaths of VRUs outnumber vehicular drivers and occupants. A forensic pathologist not only reports the cause of death but also forms opinions on type of road user.

Elder abuse among outpatient department attendees in a tertiary care hospital in Sri Lanka.

Objectives: Abuse of older people is a hidden problem. Some believe that it is less in Asian societies as the extended family is a protective factor. The real extent of the problem however, is not researched adequately in Sri Lanka.

Study on unnatural childhood deaths presented to North Colombo Teaching Hospital, Sri Lanka.

Introduction: Unnatural childhood deaths are not only associated with intense trauma and separation distress, but also relate to a sense of neglect to protect children from harm. Accurate information on causes and circumstances of such deaths through a process of medico-legal investigations is essential in creating an awareness among the policy makers and educators/caregivers, to prevent these tragic deaths.

Objective: The aim of the study was to determine the causes and the circumstances of unnatural deaths of children among the medico-legal autopsy population presented to North Colombo Teaching Hospital, Sri Lanka.

Dengue Viral Myositis Complicated with Rhabdomyolysis and Superinfection of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Dengue is endemic in Sri Lanka and the physician should be aware of different and unusual presentation of the illness. Rhabdomyolysis is a well-known complication following many viral and bacterial infections; however, only a few cases have been reported with dengue viral infections. Further occurrence of coinfection by dengue and bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been underestimated, and few reports have been published so far.

Homicidal firearm injuries: a study from Sri Lanka.

Stabbing, mechanical asphyxia, blunt head injury and shooting are the most common methods of homicides, with firearm homicides on the increase throughout the world. This study was a retrospective study carried out by the Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka over a 1 year period on firearm homicides examined at two principal forensic institutions in the western province (Office of the Judicial Medical Officer Colombo and Ragama) of Sri Lanka. During the period of the study (June 2005 to July 2006) 3100 medicolegal autopsies were carried out at these two institutions with 265 representing alleged homicides.

Extreme violence--homicide; an analysis of 265 cases from the offices of JMO Colombo and Ragama--a study from Sri Lanka.

Violence in a society can be categorized into many areas such as interpersonal violence, domestic violence, violence against children, violence of human rights, violence due to wars etc. The most extreme form of violence is killing of another human. To study whether the underlying reasons (motives) for killing has a relationship to the methods employed for killing.