Fatal falls from great height in Sousse (Tunisia): Study of 141 medicolegal autopsy cases

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Published Nov 24, 2023
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Vol. 101 No. 11 (2023): Tunis Med nov

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Souhir Chelly
Department of quality and safety of care, Farhat Hached hospital, Sousse, Tunisia
Abir Mtira
Department of quality and safety of care, Farhat Hached hospital, Sousse, Tunisia
Sarra Gharesellaoui
Department of Legal medicine, Farhat Hached hospital, Sousse, Tunisia
Majed Hassine
Department of Cardiology A, Fattouma Bourguiba hospital, Monastir, Tunisia
Maher Jedidi
Department of Legal medicine, Farhat Hached hospital, Sousse, Tunisia
Mohamed Mahjoub
Department of quality and safety of care, Farhat Hached hospital, Sousse, Tunisia
Tasnim Masmoudi
Department of Legal medicine, Farhat Hached hospital, Sousse, Tunisia

Abstract

Introduction: Falls from great heights constitute a violent trauma that can lead to death. This represents a suspicious death, leading to initiate legal proceedings with in particular the practice of an autopsy.


Aims: to determine the features of victims of falls from height and relations between medico-legal form of the death, the height of the fall and the nature of traumatic injuries


Methods: A retrospective study about 141 cases of death after fall from great height. Data were collected at the Legal Medicine Department of the Farhat Hached University Hospital in Sousse (Tunisia) over a period of 14 years from 2007 to 2020.


Results: The average age of the victims was 37±12.8 years with a sex ratio of 6.05. Half of them were day laborers. The majority had no history of psychiatric illness (91.5%). The majority of victims (41.8%) fell from a height of 3 to 6 meters. Regarding injuries, rib fractures (52.4) were predominant, especially on the right side followed by skull fractures (31.2%). A significant difference in the prevalence of rib cage lesions in the groups over 9 meters in height (p<0.05) was found. The lesions of the lower limbs were proportional to the increase in the height of the fall. Deaths were accidental in 80.8% and suicides in 13.5%.


Conclusion: In cases of high falls, a forensic autopsy is essential to make a complete evaluation of the injuries, to search a correlation between severity of injuries and height of the fall .....(abstract truncated at 250 words).

Keywords:

fall from height, trauma, autopsy, death, forensic form

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