Sidlo Jozef, Sidlova Henrieta
Institute of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University, Sasinkova 4, 811 08 Bratislava, Slovakia.
Institute of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Slovak Medical University and Cytopathos Ltd., Limbova 12, 833 03 Bratislava, Slovakia.
Forensic Sci Int. 2018 Aug;289:e15-e17. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2018.05.045. Epub 2018 Jun 4.
The case of an accidental fatal penetrating craniocerebral injury to a 26-year-old man at work when cutting wood is reported. There was used an angle grinder with an accessory for cutting similar to a chainsaw. The injury was caused by a fragment of the broken chain. The chain fragment broke through the facial part of the head to the left and penetrated the brain in the region of the left parietal bone of the cranial vault. The immediate cause of death was a failure of the central nervous system (brain death). The toxicological analysis of biological materials was negative. The death occurred as a result of a triple violation of safety precautions. The presented case is extremely rare in terms of fatal injuries caused by power tools for sawing having been published in the forensic literature.
