Authors

Naveen Sharma, Kunal Khanna, Sandeep Giri, Vijay Pal, Tarun Dagar

Abstract

The history of agriculture in India dates back to the Neolithic and India ranks second worldwide in farm outputs. Decapitation is the complete separation of the head from the body. Decapitation has been reported to occur in accidental, suicidal and homicidal manner of deaths. Autopsy surgeon should consider the history, type of injury, level of decapitation, circumstances, type of weapon which can inflict such injury, incident scene visit are important before formulating any final opinion in cases of decapitation. The cases on decapitation are reported in literature but only few cases have explained the mechanism of such decapitation in detail. In the present case, the authors have discussed the mechanism of decapitation and report an infrequent case of accidental decapitation while using Rotavator (tractor drawn implement which is mainly used for seed bed preparation) by agriculture worker in the field to save the life of a cattle. The autopsy findings of this case are important to ascertain the ‘manner of death’. Further, the level of decapitation is also important for the clinicians in interpreting and outcome of victim of neck trauma.

Key words

DOI

 10.59988/jfmsl.vol.32issue2.17