Asphyxia and physical agents
Hanging, strangulation, suffocation, drowning, burns, electricity and cold.
19 pages
Finding
- Autoerotic asphyxiaAn accidental death during solitary sexual activity with restricted oxygen; recognising it…
- Bodies recovered from waterA body in water did not always drown: water changes the skin and decomposition and causes…
- Burns in forensic medicine: patterns and antemortem signsThe forensic doctor describes the cause, extent and pattern of burns and looks for signs that…
- Chemical burns and acid attacksAcids form a crust that slows penetration; alkalis go deeper
- Death from cold: forensic findingsDeath from hypothermia leaves few signs; Wischnewski spots and paradoxical undressing support…
- Death from heat: heat stroke and hyperthermiaDeath from heat leaves almost no autopsy findings: it is diagnosed from the circumstances, a…
- Deaths in fires: soot, carboxyhaemoglobin and heat artefactsMost fire victims die from smoke; soot below the vocal cords and raised carboxyhaemoglobin show…
- Diving and pressure deaths: barotrauma and decompressionIn a diver's death, drowning, arterial gas embolism from lung barotrauma, decompression sickness…
- Drowning: forensic findings and diagnosisNo single test proves death by drowning: it is diagnosed by adding up signs and circumstances…
- Electrical injury and lightningElectricity leaves an entry mark and sometimes an exit mark; low voltage on wet skin may leave…
- Environmental asphyxia: low oxygen, gases and confined spacesIn wells, tanks or bags the air can run out of oxygen or fill with gases; it leaves few findings…
- HangingIn hanging the noose tightens on the neck through the body's own weight; it leaves an oblique…
- Ligature strangulationIn ligature strangulation a force other than body weight tightens the neck; it leaves a…
- Manual strangulation (throttling)In manual strangulation hands squeeze the neck: it leaves finger and nail marks, but many living…
- Neck holds, armlocks and reflex cardiac arrestA neck hold can cause unconsciousness within seconds and kill, sometimes without marks: the…
- Scalds: accidental and inflictedA spill scald has irregular edges and splashes; a forced-immersion scald has sharp edges, even…
- Smothering, gagging and chokingSmothering covers the nose and mouth; choking blocks the airway from inside
- Traumatic and positional asphyxiaIn traumatic asphyxia a weight crushes the chest; in positional asphyxia the body's posture…
Topic
A to Z
Educational content on forensic and legal medicine; not legal advice and no substitute for the technical guides of Colombia's National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences. Laws change: each page links the official text and says when it was last checked. For a real case, follow the guide in force and ask the competent authority.
Representative model, for educational purposes only.