[Diagnostic criteria of death cause from low temperature in air and water established by traditional expert examination methods].

Abstract

Death from general hypothermia is one of the leading causes in the structure of violent death in the Russian Federation.

Objective: To clarify and supplement the complex of differential diagnostic macro- and microscopic signs of a fatal acute general cold trauma received when person is in the air and water.

Material and methods: The conclusions of forensic medical experts on the bodies of people who died from hypothermia in the air and in water (by 150 observations) were analyzed. Methods of descriptive statistics, calculation of the frequency ratio of signs' occurrence were used.

Results: The article provides quantitative assessment of occurrence (detection) rate of diagnostically significant signs established with the help of traditional methods of expert examination. A new classification of diagnostic death signs from hypothermia taking into account their differential diagnostic significance and reflecting the conditions of a person's stay in the air and water in the pre-mortem and post-mortem periods, as well as terminal period mechanisms is proposed.

Conclusion: The established complexes of signs provide an objective basis for determining death cause in non-obvious conditions when cold exposure is expected to be one of the most damaging factors.