An unusual fatal construction site injury in India: a case report.
A 35-year-old male, employed at a construction site, accidentally injured himself when an iron rod, which he was handing up from the ground floor to a fellow worker standing on the first floor, fell backwards. It pierced his suprascapular fossa on the right side, damaging great vessels and the tricuspid valve, and entered the pericardial cavity after puncturing the posterior wall of the right ventricle. The iron rod was taken out by fellow workers at the site and the injured man was immediately taken to a nearby clinic where he was resuscitated and the wound was stitched. He was later transferred to a tertiary care hospital where he died about an hour after admission. Though many bizarre injuries have been reported at construction sites, a fatal injury of this nature deserves a mention in the forensic literature.
Department of Forensic Medicine, Armed Forces Medical College, Pune, India. rautjiravi@hotmail.com
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D000062:Accidents, Occupational; D000328:Adult; D002305:Cardiac Tamponade / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D006335:Heart Injuries / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D014950:Wounds, Penetrating / Q000473:pathology*