Electrical fatalities occur most often accidentally during household or work activities. AC current is more dangerous than DC as it causes fatalities at lower amperage by inducing cardiac arrhythmias. The most important factors influencing electrical injuries are current intensity and duration of contact - currents over 40mA can cause loss of consciousness and death. Autopsy findings of electrocution include marks at entry/exit points of current and histological evidence of thermal damage like coagulative necrosis.
Electrical fatalities occur most often accidentally during household or work activities. AC current is more dangerous than DC as it causes fatalities at lower amperage by inducing cardiac arrhythmias. The most important factors influencing electrical injuries are current intensity and duration of contact - currents over 40mA can cause loss of consciousness and death. Autopsy findings of electrocution include marks at entry/exit points of current and histological evidence of thermal damage like coagulative necrosis.
Electrical fatalities occur most often accidentally during household or work activities. AC current is more dangerous than DC as it causes fatalities at lower amperage by inducing cardiac arrhythmias. The most important factors influencing electrical injuries are current intensity and duration of contact - currents over 40mA can cause loss of consciousness and death. Autopsy findings of electrocution include marks at entry/exit points of current and histological evidence of thermal damage like coagulative necrosis.
household and work activities • Homicidal and suicidal electrocutions are very rare • Factors influencing electrical injuries – Type of current: • Alternative current (AC) – more dangerous than direct current (DC), because it causes fatalities at lower amperage -> cardiac arrhythmias, may prevent a victim from releasing his/her grasp of a conductor due tetanic spasm of muscles – Intensity of the current (ameprage): • The most important factor in electrocution • At 40mA an individual will loose consciousness • 50-80mA – after a few seconds -> death – Tension of the current (voltage): • Less important than the amperage • Low voltage (<50 V) – therapeutic purposes, low tensions of AC can cause fatalities, tension as low as 25 volts -> death • Medium voltage (<500 V) -> prolonged contact with the electrical source -> the victim grips and holds on to the conductor – „Joule burn” cases – „Hold on” cases – Most fatalities at 220 – 250 V • High voltage (thousands of volts – without direct contact between the victim and a conductor – arching through air – high temperatures (up to 5000 C -> sever burns – Resistance • Highest levels – bones, fat and tendons • Lowest levels – nerves, blood, mucous membranes, and muscles – Duration of contact • The possibility of a lethal event often increases with the time of contact with a conductor • E.g. Paradox survival with high voltage electrocution -> muscle spams -> victim being thrown back away from the conductor – Route of the current • The passage of the current through the heart or through the brain increases the risk of a fatal outcome • Current generally passes from the contact point to the nearest earthed point • Mechanism of death – Cardiac arrythmias – ventricular fibrillation – Respiratory arrest – intercostal muscles and diaphragm -> spasm – Inhibition of the nervous centres of respiration and circulation – Non-electrical trauma due to falls from height • Autopsy findings – Electrocution mark at the point of entry and exit of the electrical current • Round or oval, shallow crater bordered by a ridge of skin 1-3 mm high • Pale, flattened skin on the floor • Pale and hyperemic skin beyond the mark • Contact with the long axis of a wire producs a linear mark or groove – Histological findings – due to thermal effects • Abrupt transition from normal to abnormal skin • Separation of the cells of the lower epidermis – microvesicles • Coagulative necrosis -> into the dermis • Cell nuclei -> pyknosis and elongation – No marks on the skin may be seen if: • The contact point was broad – e.g. Electrocution in a bath
– Metallization – tissue anions combine with the
metal of an electrode -> metallic salts – Severe burns – high voltage electrocution – Scattered foci of the myocardial necrosis with subendocardial hemorrhages and contraction bands