Infanticide in Eastern Croatia

For the layperson no crime is more difficult to comprehend than the killing of a child by his or her own parents. This is a retrospective study of neonaticide and infanticide in Eastern Croatia from 1980 to 2004. Judicial records of infanticide cases stored in Regional and County Courts were analyzed for the circumstances surrounding the offense. Twentyfour babies were discovered in various places during investigating period of time. The victims were almost equally divided between boys (12) and girls (11). The gender of one baby was unknown. The mean weight of babies was 2.7 SD= 0.66 kg. The perpetrators preferred rubbish-heaps (33.4%), burying in soil (16.7%), various premises in or around the house (16.7%) and garbage cans (12.5%) as places for hiding the dead babies. The most dominant cause of death in sixteen cases of live birth was asphyxia (37%) with equal distribution of smothering, stuffing the mouth with rags and strangulation. Other frequent causes of death were placing the child in a plastic bag and abandonment (25%), brain injury (25%) and wounding using a sharp weapon (12.5%). The cause of death for six babies remained unknown due to advanced decomposition. Two babies were stillborn. The age of accused mothers varied from 16 to 33, mean 24 SD=5.2 years. Most of them were unmarried (60%) and had limited formal education. They usually kept the pregnancy a secret (73%) and gave birth (93%) without public welfare assistance. The mother lived in the terror of shame and with the guilt that accompany conception without marriage. Fear seemed to be a pronounced motivating factor for committing infanticide. The data on court proceedings were available in fifteen cases. The mothers were officially indicted in all cases for infanticide under the Croatian Criminal Code. The perpetrator remained unidentified in nine suspicious crimes. The court convicted ten mothers of the crime of infanticide. Often juries were unwilling to punish the mother, citing the mother’s lifelong guilt of having killed her child as enough punishment

Expert reporting on accidents caused by electric shock

U radu je na primjeru realnog slučaja nesreće prikazan rad vještaka za elektrotehniku prilikom utvrđivanja uzroka strujnog udara. Prikazane su okolnosti nesreće i postupak vještačenja materijala izuzetog s mjesta događaja nesreće. Osim toga, opisane su mjere sigurnosti koje treba poštovati pri radu na mjestu događaja nesreća uzrokovanih strujnim udarom. Autori daju podatke o učincima električne struje na ljudski organizam u slučaju strujnog udara, što je područje rada sudsko-medicinskog vještaka. Vještačenje uzroka strujnog udara je kombinirano vještačenje vještaka za elektrotehniku i sudsko-medicinskog vještaka pa je na kraju prikazano jedno takvo vještačenje na sudskoj raspravi.The paper focuses on a real accident and on the report as to the causes leading to the electric shock, drafted by an expert in electrical engineering. Described are the circumstances surrounding the accident and the methods of treatment of the materials found on the accident site. In addition, safety measures are outlined that need to be observed on sites where an accident involving electric shock can occur. The authors provide data on the impacts of electricity on human organism in the event of electric shock, which is the field of court medical experts. Expert reporting on the cause of electric shock requires an expert in electrical engineering and a medical expert. One such court hearing is presented in the paper

Accidents at work that cause mechanical injuries

U članku je na primjerima iz rada vještaka prikazano više realnih slučajeva nesreća koje uzrokuju teške mehaničke ozljede, često s fatalnim ishodom. Prikazane su okolnosti nesreće u proizvodnom pogonu ljevaonice prilikom čišćenja miješalice, nesreće koja je nastala kao posljedica nekontroliranog izlijevanja taline i eksplozije, nesreće na platformi naftnog tornja i nesreće koja se dogodila prilikom rada poljoprivrednog stroja. Dani su podaci o mehaničkim ozljedama koje su često posljedica različitih nesreća, što je područje rada sudsko-medicinskog vještaka. Potom su analizirani uzroci prikazanih realnih slučajeva nesreća na radu.The article presents on the examples from the expert\u27s work several real cases of accidents that cause serious mechanical injuries, often with a fatal outcome. The circumstances of the accident at the foundry production plant when cleaning the blender are presented; accident resulting from an uncontrolled spill of melt and explosion, an accident on the oil tower platform and an accident that occurred during the operation of an agricultural machine. Data on mechanical injuries that are often the result of various accidents are given, which is the field of work of a court medical expert. An analysis of the causes of real cases of accidents at work has been carried out

Mitral valve prolapse

Mitralni prolaps je sindrom koji se relativno često (5 — 10 %) pojavljuje u općoj populaciji. Asimptomatskih je bolesnika više nego li onih simptomatskih. Prikazan je bolesnik koji je imao nespecifične simtome niz godina i naposljetku je zadobio cerebralnu emboliju.Mitral valve syndrome is relatively frequent in general population. Asymptomatic patients predominate over the symptomatic ones. This paper presents a patient who for many years demonstrated non-specific symptoms resulting in a cerebral embolic event

Congenital aortic stenosis

Prema nekim autorima kongenitalna stenoza čini oko 3,8% urođenih anomalija srca. Poznata su tri anatomska tipa aortalne stenoze: valvularna (60 — 80%), subvalvularna (10 —20%) i supravalvularna (5%). Bolesnik je u prikazanom primjeru imao subvalvularni tip stenoze, a uz nju je bio prisutan i defekt ventrikularnog septuma. U konkretnom primjeru radilo se o rijetkoj kombinaciji urođenih anomalija srca.Congenital aortic stenosis accounts for about 3.8% of congenital heart diseases. There are three anatomic types of aortic stenosis: valvular (60 — 80%), subvalvular (10 — 20%) and supravalvular (5%). This paper presents a case of the subvalvular type of aortic stenosis associated with a ventricular septic defect which is an uncommon anatomical combination

Civilian massacre in Dalj

Prvog kolovoza 1991. Jugoslavenska savezna armija i srpski ekstremisti napali su selo Dalj, nedaleko od Osijeka. Stanovnici su izbjegli u Osijek i Mađarsku, ali mnoge od njih zarobili su teroristi. Njihova je sudbina još nepoznata, a broj nestalih osoba je veći od 300. Savezna armija sprečava ulazak u selo i dopustila je preuzimanje samo 25 mrtvih tijela koje je prihvatila osječka Opća bolnica. Dvoje od dvadesetpetoro bili su civili: P.D., pekar, albanskog podrijetla i N.T., pekarski pomoćnik, Hrvat. Spomenuti N.T. je ubijen s leđa, rafalnom vatrom, dok je P.D. najprije pretučen, a zatim ubijen s dva hica iz blizine.On August 1, 1991 the Yugoslav Federal Army and Serbian extremists attacked the village of Dalj, near Osijek. The inhabitants took refuge in Osijek and Hungary, but many of them were captured by the terrorists. Their fate is still unknown and the number of missing persons has exceeded 300. The Federal Army denied entry to the village and permitted only 25 cadavers to be taken to the Osijek General Hospital. Two of the 25 decedents were civilians: P. D., a baker of Albanian origin, and N. T., a baker’s assistant, a Croat. N. T. was killed from the back by rifle fire, while P. D. was first beaten up and then killed by two gunshots fired at close range

Seat belt and fatal injury

Sigurnosni pojas je poznat kao sredstvo koje sprečava ozljede u prometu, ali je utvrđen i čitav niz ozljeda povezan s njegovom primjenom (seat belt syndrome). Prikazujemo prometnu nezgodu u kojoj su poginule dvije osobe i jedna teško ozlijeđena. Jedan putnik je podlegao uslijed traumatskog razdora lijeve grane plućne arterije. Značajno je istaknuti da su svi stradalnici nosili sigurnosni pojas u vrijeme sudara. Sigurnosni pojas gubi zaštitnu funkciju u slučaju velikih naletnih brzina, budući da ljudsko tijelo ne može podnijeti velike deceleracijske sile. Ovaj primjer ukazuje na niz ozljeda koje su posljedica interakcije sigurnosnog pojasa i ljudskog tijela.The beneficial protective effect of the seat belt is well known. However, there are various injuries attributable to their usage, defined as the “seat belt syndrome”. We present a traffic accident with two dead and one seriously in jured participants. One of the front seat passengers succumbed to left pulmonary artery disruption. It is significant that all the passengers included were wearing seat belts at the time of collision. Protective effect of the seat belt is reduced in high speed collisions because human body cannot tolerate great decelerative forces. This is an example of injuries attributable to the interaction of human body and the seat belt

Papilloma plexus choroidei

Papilom horoidnog pleksusa je rijedak intrakranijalni tumor (0,4—6%). Prikazana je bolesnica koja je manifestirala simptome povišenog intrakranijalnog tlaka, ataksiju hoda i slabost vida. Kompjuterizirana tomografija (CT) mozga utvrdila je hidrocefalus, a na odbukciji je pronađen papilom horoidnog pleksusa u četvrtoj moždanoj komori.The choroid plexus papillomas 6°/o of brain tumours. The patient manifested clinical evidence of raised intracranial pressure, ataxia and oftalmic dicorders. Computed tomography study revealed hydrocephalus. At autopsy, choroid plexus papilloma was found within the fourth ventricle