IMMERSION DEATH

YOUSEF ZATARI
 Freshwater vs seawater
 Causes of death in drowning
 The autopsy signs of drowning
 Chemical changes in the blood
 Diatoms and the diagnosis of drowning
 Estimate time of drowning
freshwater drowning

 a massive absorption of water through

the alveolar membranes
 relative anaemia and myocardial
hypoxia
 haemolysis of red cells release
potassium- ventriculer fibrillation
 Death in freshwater typically took some
4–5 minutes
Seawater drowning
 Withdrawal of water from the plasma
into the lungs
 less deleterious to heart function and
helped to explain the longer survival
time in seawater immersion.
 seawater drowning take 8–12 minutes.
 Causes of death in drowning

1) Asphyxia. Inhalation of fluid causes obstruction to the air-

passages. Circulatory and respiratory failure occur
simultaneously, due to anoxia of both the myocardium and the
respiratory centre.

2) Ventricular fibrillation. In fresh water drowning, arrhythmias of

the heart beat, ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation cause
death within three to five minutes.

3) Laryngeal spasm may result from inrush of water into the

naso-pharynx or larynx.
4) Vagal inhibition is due to icy cold water, high emotion or
excitement and unexpected immersion.

5) Exhaustion.

6) Injuries: Fracture of skull and fracture-dislocation of

cervical vertebrae may occur due to the head striking
forcibly against some solid object. Concussion may
occur due to striking the head against some hard
substance or the water itself while falling from a height.
THE AUTOPSY SIGNS OF
DROWNING
 Froth in the air passages
o The froth is oedema fluid from the lungs
o Exudes through the mouth and nostrils
o pink or red-tinged, because of
intrapulmonary bleeding
o Not all froth around the mouth is from
drowning.htn,pulmonary edema
 Overinflation of the lungs
o The older name for this condition is
‘emphysema aquosum’
o The oedema fluid in the bronchi blocks the
passive collapse that normally occurs at
death
o this may be sufficient to mark the lateral
surfaces of the lungs with the impression of
the ribs, leaving visible and palpable grooves
after removal of the organs from the thorax
 Overinflation of the lungs (emphysema aquosum)
 Sub-pleural heamorrhages (Paultauf
spots):
 In 5-60% of drownings reflecting intra-
alveolar heamorrhages
 The stomach may contain watery fluid or
even foreign material from the water,
such as silt, weed or sand
Cadaveric Spasms
Involving the hand (firmly grasping weeds or sands) indicating
the victims was alive when immersed
Cutis Anserina
 CHEMICAL CHANGES IN THE BLOOD
IN DROWNING
 Normally chloride con. In rt. And lt.
chambers are equal
 Changes more than 25mg/100ml :
suspect drowning
DIATOMS AND THE DIAGNOSIS
OF DROWNING
 Diatoms are Unicellular algae with outer siliceous
wall.
 Resist heat and acid.
 Active circulation brings diatoms into intestine, liver,
brain, bone marrow.
 After autopsy, samples of these organs can be
digested with strong acid to dissolve the soft
tissue, thus leaving the highly resistant diatom
skeletons to be identified under the microscope
 diatom test should be used only as an indicative
aid and not as legal proof of drowning.
Time passed since drowning

Estimated through :
 Rate of body cooling
 Floating of body (occurs after 5-8 days
in summer)
 Volume of pleural fluid accumulated
THANK YOU