Fatal injury by high-pressure water jet unit - A case report

Abstract

Herein, we report a fatal case of high-pressure water-inflicted femoral injury. A male worker in his twenties was found at the construction site with significant bleeding from the left femoral region. At three hours after discovery, his death was confirmed in an emergency hospital. The deceased was noted to be 182 cm in height, 62.5 kg in weight, and postmortem rigidity strongly appeared in his whole joints. Externally, there was a large, 28-cm laceration in the left medial femoral region, wherein the subcutaneous muscle layer was drastically contused and transected, and both the femoral artery and vein were completely disrupted. This injury also penetrated into the left popliteal region similar to an impalement injury, producing a small, circular, 1.5-cm wound exit site. Moreover, two lacerations in the right anterior femoral region were presented in an inverse "U"-like shape, with injury lengths of 14 cm and 26 cm. Internally, every organ was apparently anemic, given that the water jet lance produced pressures ranging from 10,000-40,000 psi. Thus, the cause of his death was diagnosed as hemorrhagic shock secondary to femoral artery and vein disruption caused by a high-pressure water jet unit.

Keywords: Blunt injury; Forensic traumatology; Waterjet injury.