[An accident after an accident--an unusual death in a hospitalized patient].
The authors present a case of accidental fatal laryngopharyngeal obstruction with bolus of food, in hospital, in a patient who has been treated for twenty days because of injuries sustained in a traffic accident. The injuries were multiple fractures and brain contusions that were not clinically diagnosed, while their symptomatology (somnolence) was attributed to morbous lesions--multifocal brain infarction. Mechanical asphyxiation and death occurred when the patient was fed in hospital by his brother. Unofficially we got an information that whole event was very dramatical, and that medical staff tried to attempt resuscitative measures, but without any written note about that in medical documentation. The terminal phase of his chronic desompensated cardiomyopathia was clinically announced as a cause of death. For forensic pathologists it was relatively easy task to prove mechanical asphyxiation due to laringopharyngeal blockage as a real cause of death on medicolegal autopsy.
Nikolić
Slobodan
S
Institute of Forensic Medicine, University School of Medicine, Belgrade. bobanvladislav@yahoo.com
Micić
Jelena
J
Savić
Slobodan
S
D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D000368:Aged; D000402:Airway Obstruction / Q000209:etiology*; D001924:Brain Concussion / Q000150:complications; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D007830:Larynx; D008297:Male; D010614:Pharynx