The mechanism of fatal cardiopulmonary injury caused by a blow from a golf club |
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Authors: | B Purdue G C Fernando |
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Affiliation: | University Department of Forensic Medicine, Royal Infirmary, Dundee, Scotland, U.K. |
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Abstract: | In the course of a scuffle, a youth of 18 years was struck a single blow across the chest with a golf club. He collapsed dead on the spot. At autopsy, a precisely located and highly distinctive patterned imprint abrasion of the precordial region was revealed providing an excellent match with the weapon. The heart showed multiple internal ruptures and there was a laceration of the lingula of the left lung. Injury to the chest wall was confined to the soft tissues, the rib cage and sternum being intact. We postulate a novel mechanism to explain the cardiac rupture. |
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