title: Postmortem wound dehiscence. A report of three cases.
abstract: Three cases of healing incised wounds that dehisced following death are reported. All three deaths were apparent drownings during summer months. The incised wounds had occurred from 1 week to 6 months prior to death. The length of post-mortem immersion ranged from 2 days to 3 weeks, and all three decedents exhibited significant decompositional changes. Proper recognition of this postmortem artifact eliminates undue suspicions and contributes to proper identification.
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D004332:Drowning; D005260:Female; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D013529:Surgical Wound Dehiscence / Q000473:pathology*; D013997:Time Factors