Immersion Deaths

Abstract

The determination of the diagnosis of death by immersion is one of the most difficult tasks in forensic medicine. The death of a victim found in water is not necessarily related to drowning and the autopsy examination as well as complementary laboratory investigations must be performed to assess this diagnosis. These investigations are biochemical and histological analyses and the diatom test. Immersion deaths can be considered as deaths by drowning defined as death due to submersion in a liquid. The fundamental mechanism of death in acute drowning is irreversible cerebral anoxia and the consequence of drowning is hypoxemia.