title: 2. Haemorrhoids leading to post-mortem artefact: a case report.
abstract: Any change produced, or feature introduced, in a body after death which is accidentally or physiologically unrelated to the natural state of the body is termed as an artefact. Since artefacts may lead to misinterpretation of post-mortem findings, it is important to rule them out. Artefacts may be produced for a variety of reasons. We present a case report where a young male in his late twenties committed suicide by hanging. He was suffering from haemorrhoids. Because of his posture, there was post-mortem bleeding, which was interpreted by the police as bleeding due to the self-cutting of his veins. Hence, we felt the need to report this case.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, AIIMS, New Delhi, India. dn_11@rediffmail.com
authors.forename: D N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Bhardwaj
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gupta
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016477:Artifacts; D006484:Hemorrhoids; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D013405:Suicide