title: Severing of skull cap: A rare trauma attributed to transportation of bulldozer.
abstract: Bulldozer fatalities are usually due to accidental crushing of the body at the workplace. However, severance of the skull cap simulating a chopping injury to head is rare in the literature. Medico-legal investigation may be posed with different challenges when carrying out an autopsy of a victim with this devastating head injury. The police will seek an opinion about the type of weapon responsible for the injuries, the nature of injuries produced and manner of death. In the present case, the victim was hit at dusk by a protruding part of the bulldozer blade as he crossed in front of a bulldozer that was approaching his tractor from the opposite side of the road. His skull cap was severed and he died instantly. This report considers the circumstances of his death, its mechanisms and strategies for preventing such deaths.
authors: 1 Ministry of National Security, Kingston, Jamaica.
authors: Parthasarathi
authors: P
authors: Pramanik
authors: 2 Department of Forensic Medicine, AIIMS, Bhopal, India.
authors: Raghvendra K
authors: RK
authors: Vidua
authors: 2 Department of Forensic Medicine, AIIMS, Bhopal, India.
authors: Sweta
authors: S
authors: Patel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005554:Forensic Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008669:Metallurgy; D018986:Motor Vehicles; D031363:Scutellaria; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000150:complications* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology
keywords: Forensic medicine; bulldozer blade; forensic pathology; skull cap; transcranial penetrating wound