Medicolegal Study of Drowning Cases in Ranga Reddy District, Telangana

Accidental drowning occurs often in India, nearly 40, 000 Indians die annually from drowning. It occurs occasionally among swimmers due to their rashness in swimming, but it occurs mostly in non-swimmers who venture to go beyond their depth in the sea, rivers, canals and lakes. Many lives are lost during floods, which are so frequent.

To study autopsy finding in drowning and conclude manner of death from Ranga Reddy district, Telangana

A 3 years prospective study (January 2013 to December 2015) on 60 drowning cases brought to the Bhaskar Medical College and Hospital, R.R. District, Telangana were assessed. Subsequently, the medico legal autopsy was performed at mortuary of Osmania General Hospital, Hyderabad. This present study is directed to study the medico-legal aspects of violent asphyxial deaths special reference to drowning.

It is found that higher frequency of age group is present in the 21–30 years which is 29.1% of cases, male predominated and 41.14% were accidental in nature. Regarding the postmortem findings drowning cases, out of the total of 60 cases of drowning, cyanosis was observed in 47 (78.35%). Oozing of whitish to pinkish froth, copious in amount from mouth and nostrils was found in 53 (88.32%) cases. All the drowning cases, there were presence of heavy, voluminious, oedematous, congested lungs with weight of either lungs above 500 gm & cupious froth oozing on cut sections

This study showed that majority drowning cases belonged to male, adolescent age group & accidental in nature. The findings of the study could be useful to develop accessible infrastructures to improve drowning intervention programs in this region.