A Unusual Lightning Death in an Indoor Setting: A Case Report

Medico-legal scene investigation in the case of burned bodies - a systematic review

A judicial on-site examination is essential for the correct analysis of a forensic case, particularly when there has been a fatal fire, as heat-related changes to bodies make identification by the forensic pathologist and other specialists difficult along with estimating the post-mortem interval and determining the precise cause and manner of death. We systematically reviewed all relevant articles dating from 2003 to 2022 in the PubMed database with a view to updating recommendations on how best to proceed. Our recommendations highlight the importance of a multidisciplinary team approach involving various forensic specialists.

Thunder storm mortality: Issues of medicolegal concern

Thunderstorms refer to atmospheric disturbances that are associated with electrical discharges in the form of lightning, with acoustic effects from thunder. They involve the rapid upward movement of warm, moist air which then cools and condenses creating typical cumulonimbus clouds with precipitation. Thunderstorms range in severity but are usually associated with heavy rains, winds and sometimes sleet, hail and snow. If the intensity of a storm increases there may be tornadoes or cyclones. In cases with lightning strikes and minimal or no rain there is an associated risk for the development of quite devastating wild (bush) fires. Lightning strikes may also be associated with the development, or an exacerbation, of potentially lethal natural cardiac or respiratory diseases.

Filigree burns of a lightning strike: A case series

Lightning is the discharge of an electric charge forming in the atmosphere between the earth and clouds which travels downward in a branching pattern. It is estimated that there are some 1800 active thunderstorms at any given moment. Lightning may injure or kill a person by a direct strike, a side-flash or conduction through another object. Agricultural workers are at risk in developing and underdeveloped countries, as are those engaging in sporting activities elsewhere. Fatalities resulting from lightning strikes may not show specific symptoms at autopsy, but there may be symptoms of burns on clothes and body and fernlike marks specific to lightning strikes on their bodies. Other signs are acute kidney failure, cardiac arrhythmias and deaths, and while internal organs may show oedema, congestion, etc, this is not in itself sufficient to establish causation. When diagnosing death from a lightning strike, it is essential to examine the deceased's clothes, their external body and carry out a crime scene investigation. We report a series of three cases of death from a lightning strike in previously healthy men engaged in their daily activities.

Investigation of the skin lesions in lightning strike death

Lightning strike-related deaths are unusual, and the victim bodies can present different lesions due to the different injury mechanisms associated with this event. Since the post mortem assessment can be challenging, the evaluation of the characteristics of the skin lesions becomes fundamental to reconstruct the event. Due to the paucity of literature on this topic, the authors report the case of a 59-year-old man found dead near his home after a thunderstorm. Initially considered a murder by gunshot, the autopsy revealed the typical lightning strike lesions, also known as Lichtenberg figures. The adequate interpretation of the autopsy data and the histological evidences allowed to reconstruct the death dynamic and to relate it to a lightning strike. The main lesions due to lightening are here reported and discussed in order to provide a workflow for the identification of lightening as cause of death in unwitnessed cases.

Morphological cardiac changes in electrocution deaths: A literature review

Electrical injury may lead to damage to the conducting tissue, myocardial changes and even sudden cardiac death. Victims of low-voltage electrocution may have no electric marks, burns or other signs typical of electrical injuries. In these cases, the absence of other specific findings could make the identification of the cause of death very difficult. A broad spectrum of cardiac changes in cases of electrocution has been described in the literature, including the break-up of myocardial fibres, cardiomyolysis, haemorrhagic areas, the separation of myofibres and alternating hypercontracted-hyperdistended myocytes. All the described alterations, however, cannot be exclusively attributed to electrocution, since no specific morphological cardiac findings have so far been identified in electrocution. However, a few histological patterns recur, and their knowledge may be important for the forensic pathologist. This literature review describes the main pathological patterns observed in cases of fatal electrocution based on a literature search carried out up to September 2019 in the databases PubMed and Scopus. The search criteria included the keywords for cardiac lesions and electrocution. On the grounds of the literature data, a list of major and minor diagnostic markers for the passage of the electrical current through the heart tissue was created.