Unusually extensive head trauma in a hydraulic elevator accident: Post-mortem MSCT findings, autopsy results and scene reconstruction

Jacobsen, Christina; Schön, Corinna A.; Kneubuehl, Beat; Thali, Michael J.; Aghayev, Emin

doi:10.1016/j.jflm.2008.03.006

« Previous Next »Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine
Volume 15, Issue 7 , Pages 462-466, October 2008

Unusually extensive head trauma in a hydraulic elevator accident: Post-mortem MSCT findings, autopsy results and scene reconstruction

Christina Jacobsen (MD PhD (Medical Doctor))
- Centre for Forensic Medicine and Virtopsy, University of Bern, Buehlstrasse 20, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland
- University of Copenhagen, Department of Forensic Medicine, Frederik d V’s Vej 11, 2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
Corinna A. Schön (Dr Med (Medical Doctor))
- Centre for Forensic Medicine and Virtopsy, University of Bern, Buehlstrasse 20, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +41 31 631 84 11; fax: +41 31 631 38 33.
Beat Kneubuehl (Dipl Math Dr Sc Forens (Mathematician and Physicist))
- Centre for Forensic Physics and Ballistics, University of Bern, Buehlstrasse 20, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
Michael J. Thali (Dr Med (Medical Doctor))
- Centre for Forensic Medicine and Virtopsy, University of Bern, Buehlstrasse 20, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland
Emin Aghayev (Dr Med (Medical Doctor))
- Centre for Forensic Medicine and Virtopsy, University of Bern, Buehlstrasse 20, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland

Received 5 December 2007; accepted 6 March 2008.

Abstract

Accidental or intentional falls from a height are a form of blunt trauma and occur frequently in forensic medicine. Reports describing elevator accidents as a small subcategory of falls from heights are rare in the medical literature and no report on injury patterns or scene reconstruction of such an accident was found. A case of an accident in a hydraulic elevator with a man falling 3m was examined using post-mortem multi-slice computed tomography (MSCT) and autopsy. The man suffered an unusually extensive trauma and died at the scene. Post-mortem MSCT examination showed a comminute fracture of the skull, the right femur and the first lumbar vertebra. Severe lacerations of the brain with epidural, subdural and subarachnoidal haemorrhages over both hemispheres were diagnosed. Autopsy confirmed these findings. To reconstruct the accident we used radiological and autopsy results as well as findings at the scene.