Case Study A 35 year old male is the driver of a vehicle observed to 'drift' off the shoulder of an interstate highway, and with no evidence of breaking strikes an abutment of a bridge at about 35 mph. The driver is belted and air-bags deploy. He is found to have NO vital signs when paramedics arrive several minutes after the impact, and the patient is pronounced dead. Autopsy shows abrasions on the chest, and several fractured ribs with no associated hemorrhage. NO contusions are present in the brain, but a large amount of subarachnoid blood is present, associated with a ruptured aneurysm of the anterior communicating cerebral artery. Cocaine metabolites are found on urine drug screen. NO drugs are present in the blood.
Case Study
A 35 year old male is the driver of a vehicle observed to 'drift' off the shoulder of an interstate highway, and with no evidence of breaking strikes an abutment of a bridge at about 35 mph. The driver is belted and air-bags deploy. He is found to have NO vital signs when paramedics arrive several minutes after the impact, and the patient is pronounced dead.
Autopsy shows abrasions on the chest, and several fractured ribs with no associated hemorrhage. NO contusions are present in the brain, but a large amount of subarachnoid blood is present, associated with a ruptured aneurysm of the anterior communicating cerebral artery.
Cocaine metabolites are found on urine drug screen. NO drugs are present in the blood.
- What is the probable Cause and Manner of Death?
In many jurisdictions, this case would have been signed out as blunt force trauma due to automobile collision, and no autopsy would have been performed.
- Why is it important to conduct a complete autopsy in all sudden deaths, including trauma cases?
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