title: Nail injury to the brain obfuscated by a fall from height - homicide or suicide? a case report.
abstract: Penetrating head injuries caused by unconventional objects such as a nail generate speculation and doubt regarding the manner of infliction. We report a case of a 24-year-old woman alleged to have committed suicide by a fall from height. Autopsy revealed an unprecedented penetrating intracranial injury caused by a nail over the right temporal region, confounding the manner of death. The underlying intersecting pattern of fractures determined the chronological sequence of events. In this paper, we discuss the manner, incidence and pathology of nail injuries to the brain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Maulana Azad Medical College, India.
authors.forename: Anil
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aggrawal
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Maulana Azad Medical College, India monishapr@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Monisha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pradhan
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Maulana Azad Medical College, India.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sreenivas
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D049429:Forensic Pathology; D020197:Head Injuries, Penetrating / Q000473:pathology*; D020199:Hematoma, Subdural, Acute / Q000473:pathology; D006708:Homicide; D006801:Humans; D012887:Skull Fractures / Q000473:pathology*; D013345:Subarachnoid Hemorrhage / Q000473:pathology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Puppe’s rule; forensic medicine; forensic pathology; homicide; nail brain injury; penetrating cranial injury