Indian Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology

The study of bifurcated rib and costal catrtilage was done at S. R. T. R. Medical College, Ambajogai. Total 30 cadavers were studied during 1997 to 2001. Bifurcation of rib and costal cartilage was found in one cadaver. Left third rib bifurcated and joined with its bifurcated costal cartilage to create an additional intercostals space. This additional intercostals space bears the intercostals muscles. The muscle fibres were in two layers and in the direction of that of the external intercostal and internal intercostal muscles respectively. These intercostal muscles were supplied by a branch of left third intercostal nerve. This bifurcated rib and costal cartilage created an additional intercostals space, which is important for the forensic expert while doing post mortems examination & describing the thoracic injuries. It may prove very useful for a forensic expert to establish identity of a person.

Key words: Rare Anomaly, Bifurcated Rib, Costal Cartilage, intercostals space, forensic

In the scenario of alarming increasing cases of unnatural deaths due to strangulation and throttling the determination of cause of death has become difficult in some cases to forensic pathologist. But a case of attempted ligature strangulation which was safely resuscitated has been registered and studied. In this article an attempt has been made to discuss in detail about the various findings in relation to ligature strangulation concerned therein.

Keywords: Strangulation, ligature, homicide.

Background: Delirium and depression in people with cancer is important because of its relatively high prevalence, poor prognosis if undetected and the impact on the quality of life. Considering its importance, we have made this review article to know surprisingly little about the frequency of poor outcomes, or the factors which might predict poor outcomes. Often misdiagnosed by clinicians as a psychiatric disorder and the underlying cause is not focused on. The experience of delirium causes distress to patient and their care givers and has obvious implications for quality of life for both. Under diagnosis of delirium have serious implications as delirium may be a marker of potentially reversible pathology. Apart from being a cause of poor outcome, the delirium state may lead to difficulties with treatment, rehabilitation and interfere with activities of daily living. The presence of major depressive disorder should result in an automatic finding of incompetence. Psychiatrists with ethical objections to assisted suicide advocate a higher threshold for competence and more extensive review of a decision. The ethical views of psychiatrists may influence their clinical opinions regarding patient competence to consent to assisted suicide. The extensive evaluation of these terminally ill cancer patients is thus recommended by forensic psychiatrists.

Key words: Psychiatric disorder, Cancer patient, Forensic psychhiatry, Delirium & depression

Background: Poisoning is one of the common causes of unnatural deaths and continues to a major health problem in the developing countries. Material & Method: A prospective study of sociodemographic profile of poisoning cases of Gulbarga region from1st January 2004 to 31st December 2005 using the data from hospital admission papers, police records, postmortem reports, suicide notes if any, history from the relatives & friends accompanying the deceased and chemical analysis report from Regional Forensic Science Laboratory. Results: Out of 910 autopsies conducted in District Hospital of Gulbarga, during the study period, 188 were due to poisoning. Majority of the victims were in the age group of 20 to 30 years. More than three fourth of the victim were from rural areas. Distribution of suicidal cases showed male preponderance, majority of the victims being illiterate and agriculturist by occupation with maximum number of fatalities in the month of August. Most of the cases were suicidal in nature and financial problem was the most common reason for consumption of poisons. Chronic illnesses, harassment by in-laws, psychiatric illness, and academic failure were the other main reasons for poisoning. Chemical analysis report showed that Organophosphorus groups of compounds were the most commonly found poison. Organochlorines and carbamate compounds were the other commonly used poisons.

Key words: Poisonings, Suicide, Organophosphorus compounds

Background: “Medico legal” is the term that incorporates the basics of two professions i.e. medicine and law. “Medical Jurisprudence” is the application of knowledge of law in practice of medicine in other words; it deals with legal aspects of medicine such as legal rights, privileges, duties, and obligations of a medical practitioner”. The term medico legal has gained a lot of importance in the past years after the passage of the Consumer Protection Act in 1986. Although forensic medicine and medical jurisprudence is the part of curriculum during the second year of medical school in India, still many interns and residents lack the knowledge about medico legal issues. Aims: The aim of the present study was to assess the knowledge regarding medico legal problems amongst interns and residents at a rural tertiary care teaching hospital in western Maharashtra. Material & Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted at Rural Medical College and Pravara Rural Hospital, Loni Dist. Ahmednagar (Maharashtra) consists of total 160 doctors who included 80 interns and the same number of residents over a period of six months from July 2009 to December 2009. A predesigned and pretested questionnaire was used for the data collection. Results: In the present study, MLC (medico legal case) is a common abbreviation used by the residents and interns while working in the casualty and the wards, most of them (90%) knew what it stood for. More than 50% (n=52) residents were unaware of the cases to be informed to the police while among interns only 19% (n=15) were correct. 68 (78.75%) interns and 73 (91.25%) residents knew that post-mortem didn’t mean that it had to be a police case. Conclusion: Overall knowledge of medico legal issues among our residents and interns had not shown upto the mark. There is a need to train these young doctors about various medico legal aspects, their role and responsibilities. The prevalence of certain misconceptions and void in the knowledge about medico legal issues can be done away be giving repeated trainings to them.

Key words: Medico legal, Knowledge, Interns, Residents

Communication skills are perhaps as ancient as the mankind itself. Teaching faculty of medical curriculum has the onus of upgrading oneself with the contemporary methodologies of scientific communications. In addition to the conventional ‘oral presentations’, the scientific gatherings are making a paradigm shift towards ‘poster presentations’. The worthiness and pre-requisites of designing and presenting a scientific poster is discussed.

Key words: Communication, poster design.