Patterns and Severity of Injuries in Patients Following Physical Assault– A Medicolegal Aspects

Abstract

Background and purpose: Physical assault (PA) is a common cause of mortality and morbidity throughout the world and the prevalence is still very high in underdeveloped and developing countries. With the objective to see the spectrum of injury following PA from the medico legal point of view, this study was design in a tertiary care centre at far eastern part of Nepal.
 Material and method: This is a prospective analytical study with non- probability consecutive sampling of physical assault cases presented in the emergency department over the duration of 4 months. All the patients who meet the inclusion criteria were collected in preformed proforma. Gender, types of weapons used for PA, location of external and internal injuries, various treatment strategies, and severity of injuries were presented in frequencies and percentage. Association of different age categories, gender and types of weapons used with severity of injuries were analysed using Chi square/ Fisher’s exact test wherever applicable.
 Result: There were total 99 patients presented with physical assault during the study period with mean age of presentation 31.69 (SD 13.38) Years with male (70%) predominance. Among various types of weapons used for PA; punches/ kicks were used in 50% of assaults followed by blunt heavy objects (35%) and sharp heavy weapons (14%). Location of the external injuries were more common in head and neck area . Obvious internal injuries were seen in 14% of the assaulted patients. Among all the case of PA, 42% patients needed some sort of surgical intervention during hospital stay. There were 9% cases of grievous injury and 6% had life threatening injuries.
 Conclusion: Physical assault is a common mode of injuries in eastern Nepal, where young males are more prone to such injuries. Violence are commonly carried out using fists, kicks and blunt objects. Severity of injuries is similar with all the types of weapons used.

Injury amongst Medicolegal Cases in Department of Forensic Medicine of a Tertiary Care Centre: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

“…This result was similar to a study done in other parts of Nepal. 9,10 In our study extremities were commonly injured in accidental injuries (RTA and Fall) (29.68%) which is similar to a study done by Gupta S, et al but the proportion was even higher (68.6%). 6 Most of the accidental injuries were associated with bone fractures (60.93%) whereas the majority of physical assault was not associated with bony fractures (79.4%).…”

“…The incidence of grievous injuries is even less in other studies done in Nepal. 10 In this study most of the injuries were nongrievous and it was further sub-divided as simple and severe injuries as non-grievous injuries were a legal term described in the criminal code of Nepal but medically these non-grievous injuries were still severe enough to cause a threat to life.…”

“…This was consistent with a study done in eastern Nepal. 10 The choice of weapons also included household items like lock pads, helmets, glass, stones, and bricks (21.75%), indicating that the assault was not pre-planned. In few cases weapons like sticks, sharp instruments (10.5%) like khukuri, knives were used, indicating planned assault.…”

Medicolegal Aspects of Victims of Assault Admitted to a Tertiary Care Hospital in Sri Lanka

“…Interpersonal violence amounts to a significant number of hospital admissions as well as deaths (3,4). Physical assault is identified as a common cause of morbidity and mortality in underdeveloped and developing countries (3,5). However, it is generally defined as intentionally putting another person in reasonable apprehension of an imminent harmful or offensive contact.…”

“…Among the causes of preventable injuries worldwide, violence has a leading role (1,2). Interpersonal violence amounts to a significant number of hospital admissions as well as deaths (3,4). Physical assault is identified as a common cause of morbidity and mortality in underdeveloped and developing countries (3,5).…”