The mechanism of fatal cardiopulmonary injury caused by a blow from a golf club.
In the course of a scuffle, a youth of 18 years was struck a single blow across the chest with a golf club. He collapsed dead on the spot. At autopsy, a precisely located and highly distinctive patterned imprint abrasion of the precordial region was revealed providing an excellent match with the weapon. The heart showed multiple internal ruptures and there was a laceration of the lingula of the left lung. Injury to the chest wall was confined to the soft tissues, the rib cage and sternum being intact. We postulate a novel mechanism to explain the cardiac rupture.
University Department of Forensic Medicine, Royal Infirmary, Dundee, Scotland, U.K.
B
B
Purdue
G C
GC
Fernando
D000293:Adolescent; D001344:Autopsy; D006335:Heart Injuries / Q000473:pathology*; D006346:Heart Septum / Q000293:injuries; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000293:injuries; D006801:Humans; D055370:Lung Injury; D008297:Male; D010210:Papillary Muscles / Q000293:injuries; D014949:Wounds, Nonpenetrating / Q000473:pathology*