In response to the subject of forensic diagnosis of a human death caused by exposure to low-temperature water

Abstract

Background. Examination of corpses taken from the water often causes difficulties in forensic medical evaluation.
 Aim - proposal of a clarifying set of differential diagnostic features characteristic of a fatal cold injury in conditions of low water temperature.
 Material and methods. Clinical observations, forensic examination of the corpses of people who died from general hypothermia and drowning in ice water.
 Results. A complex of the most pronounced diagnostic signs for the differential diagnosis of acute deep hypothermia in water from other types of hypothermia and drowning was revealed.
 Conclusions. Morphofunctional changes in the internal organs have always been determined by the type, degree and speed of hypothermia. The most characteristic signs for a fatal cold injury in conditions of low water temperature depended on the state of the blood supply, the structure of organs and tissues. Pathological changes developed according to the type of edema, focal ischemia and focal necrosis.