Medico-Legal Update

Bharath Kumar Guntheti ¹, Uday Pal Singh ¹, Shaik Khaja ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Forensic Medicine, Mamata Medical College, Rotary Nagar, Khammam, Andhra Pradesh, IN

Abstract

Socio-Demographic profile of electrical injuries is studied for a period of one year from October 2007 to September 2008. During this study period, 62 cases were admitted at Mamata General Hospital with history of electrical injuries. The most ofthe victims were males 57[91.93%] and females 5 [08.06%] with a male to female ratio was 11.4:1. The peak incidence of electrical injuries was seen in the age group of 21to 40 years in both sexes with male predominance [91. 93%].Majority of victims were married [62.90%] and Hindus [91.93%] withrural background [61.29%]. Highest number of victims were belong to low socio-economic group [64.52%].Majority of victims were literate [49.10%] and the remaining were unskilled personnel [66.13%]. Majority of accidents weredue to low voltage circuits [<1000 v] [67.74%] as compared to accidents due to high voltage circuits [32.26%]. With reference to occupation 30.64% of electrical injuries occurred to labor class. Most of the victimswere affected during day time [95.16%]. Majority of cases occurred during monsoonseason [54.84%] with lowest number of cases occurring in rainy season. Majority of cases were involved with electrical injuries at work place [48.39%].Domestic accidents were responsible in 59 cases [91.94%]. 5 cases succumbed to death due to accidental electrocution, all of which were males. All cases were accidental in nature. Suicidal and homicidal cases were not found in this study. The most common cause of death was cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation.

Keywords

Socio, Demographic Profile, Electrical Injuries

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