Fatal accidental burns in married women

Abstract

Burning incidents amongst women are a major concern in India as it has become pervasive throughout all social strata and geographical areas. They may be homicidal, suicidal or accidental in nature. Here, in the study, the main objective is to present the different epidemiological and medicolegal aspects of accidental burns in the married women. In a cohort of 152 burned wives, 70 (46%) were accidental victims and these cases were analyzed accordingly for their different medicolegal and epidemiological aspects. Data were collected from personal interview and from examining the different documents related to death. In this series, most of the women were illiterate Hindu housewives hailing from joint families (i.e. multigenerational groups of related individuals living under a single roof) of rural community. The majority (60%) of the affected wives were 16–25 years of age at the time of the accident and sustained less than 90% total body surface area burn injury. Most had the survival period more than 1 day, and more than half of them died of septicaemia.