| Rifle wounds: a review of range and location as pertaining to manner of death. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 18725771 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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Given the prevalence of rimfire and centerfire rifle usage in both suicidal and homicidal cases, there is a paucity of articles in the literature that focus specifically on rifle wounds. Gunshot wounds, in general, have been extensively studied with articles focusing on the types of injuries, weapons used, wound locations and weapon range. We designed a study to examine the characteristics of rifle wounds, including both centerfire and rimfire rifles, especially pertaining to location and range of the wound. All deaths due to rifles examined at the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office between 1988 and 2004 were reviewed. A total of 509 cases were identified, with 233 suicides and 266 homicides. We found that the average age of suicide victims (41.6 years) tended to be older than that of homicide victims (32.6 years). Suicides tended to be contact wounds to the head whereas homicides most often had multiple wound locations sustained from a distant range. The most common location to the head of suicidal wounds was intraoral whereas homicidal head wounds were more often to the temporoparietal region. We developed odds ratios for assessing the manner of death given a wound location or range; however, we caution that every case should be analyzed based upon it's unique circumstances and not solely its statistical probability. |
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Authors:
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D Kimberley Molina; Vincent J DiMaio |
Publication Detail:
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Type: Journal Article |
Journal Detail:
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Title: The American journal of forensic medicine and pathology Volume: 29 ISSN: 1533-404X ISO Abbreviation: Am J Forensic Med Pathol Publication Date: 2008 Sep |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2008-08-26 Completed Date: 2008-10-21 Revised Date: 2011-02-02 |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 8108948 Medline TA: Am J Forensic Med Pathol Country: United States |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 201-5 Citation Subset: IM |
Affiliation:
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Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office, San Antonio, TX, USA. kmolina@co.bexar.tx.us |
Export Citation:
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| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
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Adult Age Distribution Female Firearms* Forensic Ballistics Forensic Medicine Homicide / statistics & numerical data Humans Male Sex Distribution Suicide / statistics & numerical data Texas / epidemiology Wounds, Gunshot / mortality*, pathology* |
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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