Kitulwatte Indira D, Edirisinghe P A S
Department of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka.
Med Sci Law. 2014 Apr;54(2):74-7. doi: 10.1177/0025802413491249. Epub 2013 Aug 21.
Unnatural childhood deaths are not only associated with intense trauma and separation distress, but also relate to a sense of neglect to protect children from harm. Accurate information on causes and circumstances of such deaths through a process of medico-legal investigations is essential in creating an awareness among the policy makers and educators/caregivers, to prevent these tragic deaths.
The aim of the study was to determine the causes and the circumstances of unnatural deaths of children among the medico-legal autopsy population presented to North Colombo Teaching Hospital, Sri Lanka.
A retrospective descriptive study was carried out based on Reports of Postmortem Examination performed in a Tertiary Care Hospital, on children who died of unnatural causes during the period from 2009 to 2011.
Out of 48 unnatural childhood deaths, 24 (50%) children were older than 10 years of age. The most frequent circumstance of death was accidental 39 (81%), while the most frequent cause of death was drowning 16 (33%). Fifteen died due to accidental drowning while one was a homicidal drowning. Suicidal deaths were found only among the children older than 16 years of age. Fifty-four percent of the accidental deaths had taken place at or around the home.
Accidents accounted for the majority (or greatest number) of tragic childhood deaths. The presence of drowning as the most common cause of death indicates that an immense responsibility lies with the parents and caregivers to prevent such deaths.
儿童非自然死亡不仅与强烈的创伤和分离痛苦有关，还与未能保护儿童免受伤害的疏忽感相关。通过法医调查过程获取有关此类死亡原因和情况的准确信息，对于提高政策制定者以及教育工作者/照顾者的认识、预防这些悲剧性死亡至关重要。
本研究旨在确定在斯里兰卡北科伦坡教学医院接受法医尸检的儿童非自然死亡的原因和情况。
基于一家三级护理医院对2009年至2011年期间死于非自然原因的儿童进行的尸检报告，开展了一项回顾性描述性研究。
在48例儿童非自然死亡案例中，24例（50%）儿童年龄超过10岁。最常见的死亡情形是意外事故，共39例（81%），而最常见的死亡原因是溺水，共16例（33%）。其中15例死于意外溺水，1例为他杀溺水。自杀死亡仅见于16岁以上儿童。54%的意外死亡发生在家中或家附近。
事故占儿童悲剧性死亡的大多数（或最大数量）。溺水作为最常见的死亡原因表明，父母和照顾者肩负着预防此类死亡的巨大责任。
