Search

Due to rampant unemployment, the youth does not hesitate in engaging themselves in any work/job from where they can earn their livelihood. The underground trade of drug trafficking, drug peddling, and drug abuse is prevalent in this part of India for decades. This illicit trade affects the economy of the State and causes the physical, social, and mental degeneration of the persons consuming it. Recently about 150 people were affected after consuming illicit distilled spurious liquor in the Majha region of Punjab, and more than 100 people died due to it. Some of the cases were admitted to the hospital attached to Government Medical College, Amritsar. Out of these admitted cases, few of them succumbed to poisoning whose Forensic autopsies were conducted by the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, GMC, Amritsar. The meticulous autopsy findings and the scientific interpretation of the analysis of the detected methanol alone or along with ethyl alcohol reported by the chemical examiner to Punjab government led to the establishment of a definite cause of death which helped the investigating agencies in apprehending the people involved in these criminal activities.

Introduction: Hanging is that form of asphyxia which is caused by the suspension of the body by a ligaturewhich encircles the neck, the constricting force being the weight of the body, or part of body weight.Strangulation is a form of death caused by constricting the neck by some means other than body weight. Themeans used may be ligature (ligature strangulation), human hand (throttling or manual strangulation), elbow(mugging), or some hard subject such as stick (bansdola).Aims and Objectives: To study the differentiating aspect between Hanging and Strangulation, withrespect to type of ligature material and its position, external and internal finding of neck and changes in thesubcutaneous tissue of neck.Results: Hanging amounted for 50.37% cases while strangulation was 17.20% cases among the violentasphyxial deaths. Clothes (65.45%) were most common ligature material both in hanging and strangulationas well. Position of ligature was above the level of thyroid in 95.12% cases while in strangulation theposition of ligature was at level of thyroid in most of the cases (45.71%). Associated injuries are present in51.43% cases of strangulation. Subcutaneous tissue is white glistening in most of hanging cases (76.58%)while contused in most of strangulation (82.86%) cases.Conclusion and Suggestions: It is suggested that in the interest of justice to avoid confusion, in all cases ofviolent asphyxial deaths, the post-mortem examination should be conducted by the Forensic experts only.Police personals should also be given training that they should not cut the ligature material and removeligature material before post-mortem examination so that easy differentiation of hanging and strangulationcan be made.

In spite of following one of the best management strategies, by the competent doctors with best available infrastructures in patient care, undesired results harming the patient cannot be avoided. Does it mean all these undesired results causing damage to the patient are as a result of medical negligence? Nowadays, patients are more aware of their rights on account of increased literacy level, role of print, electronic and social media and above all enactment of new law i.e. Consumer Protection Act 1986.Though the question of medical negligence is decided by Courts, but Courts on their own are not trained in medical science. Their decision is based on expert’s opinion. Judges apply the basic principle of law in conjunction with the law of land to make a decision. Reasonableness and prudence are the guiding factors. This paper deals with the legal aspects of medical negligence i.e. what is negligence and its type and various judgements especially the Jacob Mathew vs. State of Punjab 2005 and Anr, Martin F.D’Souza vs. Mohd. Ishfaq 2009, V. Kishan Rao vs. Nikhil Super Specialty Hospital 2010 delivered by the Apex Court to make the law of negligence more rational and directions given to subordinate Courts, various Consumer Fora, State and investigating agencies regarding procedures to be followed before filing a complaint or registering a case of criminal negligence against the doctor.

Introduction:An increasing death rate as a result of violence constitutes a large group in medico-legal autopsies especially deaths due to asphyxia which are one of the most important causes in violent deaths. Analysis and interpretations of cases of hanging, ligature strangulation, throttling, suffocation, traumatic asphyxia and drowning is presented in this paper.

Like any other disease, accidents too are caused by interaction between agent, host, and environment. Human factors include age, (accidents most common between 10 and 24 years), sex, education, medical conditions (heart attack, impaired vision), fatigue, influence of alcohol and other drugs, lack of bodily protection (like helmets, seat belts) and psychosocial factors like lack of experience, impulsiveness, aggressiveness, defective judgment and delay in decisions. Drunken driving is an important risk factor in causing accidents. This study was focused on the status of alcohol consumption in relation with roadside accidents in northern India in the region of Amritsar. The present study was carried out in 100 cases alleged to have died of roadside accident and brought to the mortuary attached to the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Government Medical College, Amritsar for autopsy examination. Blood samples were collected from the femoral vein and were tested for the presence of alcohol with steam distillation and titration method using potassium dichromate and sulfuric acid. In the present study, 23% of the fatal driver/pedestrian victims of roadside accidents were found to have consumed alcohol before accident. Most of the victims of road accident were from the age group 21-30 and 31-40 years. Most of the accidents occurred on straight roads instead of bends or intersections, more during daytime and weekends. 57% of the blood alcohol positives were between 100 mg% and 149 mg%. Majority of the victims of roadside accidents were motorcyclists and the striking vehicles were trucks and buses causing head & neck injuries in most of the victims. Death occurred within a few minutes in most of the cases. Language: en

Drug trafficking is a serious global issue leading to law and order problems in the affected countries. A 29 year old, female, Zambian citizen was brought to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, Amritsar, Punjab by Indian Border Security Force in semi-conscious state from Indo-Pak International Border, Wagah, Amritsar. Initially which was thought to be a case of sexual assault but later on, during her post-mortem examination, 50 large cylindrical hard shelled capsules were recovered from her gastro-intestinal tract and surprisingly it turned out to be a case of drug trafficking by body packer and poisoning of the deliriant cerebral group of drug cocaine, from ruptured capsules was the ultimate cause of death. In this case postmortem examination not only helped in establishing the cause of death, mode and manner of death but also had exposed almost fatal new mode of drug trafficking by body packing, across the international border, without arousing any suspicion to the police or intelligence agencies.

In ancient times, people considered fire one of the basic elements of the universe, along with water, air, and earth. Fire can be a friendly, comforting thing, a source of heat and light, as anyone who has ever sat by a campfire in the dark of the night knows. Yet fire can also be dangerous and deadly, racing and leaping like a living thing to consume all in its path. Death due to burns was one of the commonest unnatural deaths found in society. A retrospective study of cases from January 2011 to December 2012 of death due to burns was conducted in the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Government Medical College, Amritsar. The objective of the study was to understand various demographic aspects of deaths due to burns so as to suggest some remedial measures.