Silent while living, speaks when dead- A case report of manual strangulation

Abstract

Victim of throttling in majority of the cases die instantaneously as the perpetrator continues to apply pressure till death ensues. In certain cases, victim may survive for some time if pressure is withdrawn due to any reason. In such cases, after the incident, he/she may not be conscious or able to speak for giving history; but the injuries produced by application of pressure by palms and fingers, if looked for them carefully, may speak by themselves about the incident. Presenting here, a case of 52 years old female, where the “made-up” history by the relatives misdirected the thinking process of the clinicians as the patient could not speak at all at the time of admission to the hospital until death. Autopsy conducted on 5 day of hospitalization revealed typical signs of the homicidal act the victim was subjected to, which could have been identified in the “fresh” stage at the time of admission and could have helped in some more detailed medico legal investigations if it could have been referred to Forensic Medicine experts of the institute. This case report stresses on the need of multi-disciplinary approach at the time of treatment of any patient with suspicious history, to have some different angle of view with regards to medico legal concerns and hence, it is discussed here.