Journal of forensic and legal medicine
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Acute poisoning in children is a problem ubiquitous in distribution and is an important paediatric emergency. The present research was aimed to study the pattern and outcome of childhood poisoning under the age of 15 years at a tertiary care centre in South India to characterize the problem of acute paediatric poisoning among the children in different age group in the region. Medical records of all poisoning patients admitted during 2010 and 2011 were reviewed, and the information relating to the sociodemographic and clinical profile of the patients was recorded. ⋯ The majority of the children (n = 68, 84.0%) recovered, while seven patients had left the hospital against medical advice (8.6%). The study reports agrochemicals and hydrocarbons to be the most commonly implicated agents in paediatric poisoning. The cause of paediatric poisonings varies in different age groups and hence, preventive strategies should be planned accordingly.
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From January 1987 to December 2012, 19 homicide-suicide events were registered at the Brescia Institute of Forensic Medicine (Northern Italy), leading to 39 deaths (20 homicide victims and 19 suicide victims). The homicide victims were females in the total of the cases (100%), while perpetrators were exclusively males (100%). ⋯ Perpetrators usually used a firearm both for murder (65%) and suicide (84%). In 66% of the cases the homicide-suicide events occurred at home; homicide victims were strictly bound to their perpetrators (husband, boyfriend or ex boyfriend, father) in all the events.