Authors
Dr. Molly Banerjee
Abstract
Choking is defined as complete obstruction of the airway by a foreign body large enough to obstruct the lumen of the trachea beyond the carina-leading to Violent Mechanical Asphyxial Death. It mostly occurs accidentally, very rarely homicidal. A 23 year old, male subject, a habitual drunkard, was taken to R G Kar Medical College and Hospital where he was declared brought dead by the on-duty medical officer, the latter advised post-mortem examination to determine the actual cause and manner of death of death. The procedure followed to arrive at the conclusion included acquisition of meticulous history , perusal of all relevant documents including police inquest, postmortem examination findings , chemical and histo-pathological reports. Presence of the black seed like substance beyond the bifurcation of trachea led to the final opinion. Keywords: Choking, Cafe Coronary, Tracheaa, Asphyxia, Seed.
Introduction
Café Coronary (café means small restaurant, and coronary comes from the Latin word meaning corona or crown which defines the crown-like manner in which the coronary arteries encircle the heart; another word for coronary is heart attack). Café coronary is a condition in which a healthy but grossly intoxicated person, who begins a meal, suddenly turns blue, coughs violently, then collapses and dies, without much fuss. Death appears to be due to a heart attack (Reddy and Murty, 2017; Mukherjee, 2018). According to Haugen (1963), it is a condition in which a healthy person who begins a meal, suddenly collapses and dies without any further distress as a result of food obstruction of air passages (pharynx, larynx). The cause of death is reflex vagal inhibition of the heart. Usually, the common victims are the children, the elderly, the lunatics and those who have taken excessive alcohol before eating food (simulating cafe coronary, that is, heart attack in a small restaurant while having food in a drunken condition) (Mukherjee, 2018).
Objectives
• To report a rare case of sudden death detected during autopsy.
• To ascertain the cause and manner of death
• To render justice by not punishing an innocent person when the cause of death is an accidental one
Materials and Methods
Information furnished by the Police Inquest, history of the case obtained from the police requisition and the deceased party, MC, DC., Medico-legal autopsy and its report, reports of Viscerae from FSL (Chemical Examiner’s Report) and histopathological report were utilized and ultimately the final opinion as to the cause of death was arrived at.
Case History
A 23-year-old, male subject, a habitual drunkard, was taken to R G Kar Medical College and Hospital where he was declared brought dead by the on-duty medical officer, the latter advised post-mortem examination to determine the actual cause of death. He had H/o drinking alcohol before eating food in a restaurant, where he suddenly fell from his seat onto the ground, unconscious. The post-mortem examination was held after going through the Police Inquest, other documents and history from the party of the dead person.
References
Jameson et al. “Harrison’s Textbook of Internal Medicine”. 20th ed., McGraw Hill Education, 2018
Mukherjee, J.B. “Text Book of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology”. 5th ed., Academic Publishers, 2018
Reddy, K.S.N. & O.P. Murty, “The Essentials of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology”. 34th ed., Jaypee The Health Science Publisher, 2017
How to cite this article?
| APA Style | Banerjee, M. (2021). A Case Report of Death Due To Choking Mimicking Café Coronary. Academic Journal of Forensic Sciences, 04(01), 07–09. |
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