Electrocution deaths – A 6 year retrospective study

Background: Owing to extensive use of electricity in home and industries, electrocution injuries are one of the common causes of morbidity and mortality in India. Deaths due to fatal electric injuries are quite common in and around Ballari, and hence a retrospective study was conducted on the cases of death due to electrocution. Objectives: This study was carried out with the aim to find out the profile of electrocution deaths in fatal electrocution. Materials and Method: This retrospective study was conducted at V.I.M.S,Ballari, Karnataka, India. Total 5590 autopsies were conducted in the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology during 1^st January2010 to 1^st January 2016; of them, 64 cases of death due to electrocution were analyzed.Results: In this study, majority of the victims were men (90.62%) aged between 11 and 40 years (87.5%). In 46.87% cases, victims were electrocuted at electric pole contact and all cases (100%) were accidental in nature. In most of the victims, limbs (75.00%) were involved due to a contact with electric source followed by the cases. In this study, we observed that the incidences were typically higher in late monsoon season (59.37%) as compared to other seasons, which shows that there is a characteristic seasonal variation in cases of electrocution. Conclusion: Electric injury varies from nil to severe destruction of tissues, so in all cases of death due to electrocution meticulous autopsy should be performed to help the investigations for the purpose of compensation and to plan future safety measures. Pattern of fatal electrocution injuries in this study is more or less similar to that observed in most of the other studies conducted by various authors and the incidences are typically higher in the rainy season.