Saturday, July 30, 2011

Emedinews - Insight on medicolegal issues: The direction of firing is determined from the bullet track


·         The  burning, blackening and tattooing  around a firearm missile entry wound is due to flame/smoke and gunpowder residue is almost suggestive of near shot. However, the accurate assessment of the range of fire requires test firing of the gun with the type of ammunition that was used in shooting.
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It has been observed that many surgeons have opined the direction of fire arm missile on the position of wound track because a bullet usually travels through the tissues in a straight line. So, the direction of fire may be determined, by a doctor, from the bullet track.
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In certain conditions, a bullet may be deflected from its course and this occurs most commonly when it strikes a bone in its passage through the tissues. It can also occur due to the inherent instability of a bullet as it penetrates tissues, and it may undergo change in direction within the soft tissues in its track. 
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This is illustrated by a case in which a man was struck by a bullet, which went through various tissues in the following order: gallbladder, hepatic flexure of colon, duodenum, pancreas, inferior vena cava, then passing medially through the bony part of the vertebral column, to strike the left kidney, spleen and pass through the diaphragm and pericardium, before coming to rest in the chest cavity. 
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The bullet in motion is very notorious. In a case where the wound of entry was on the front of chest, the bullet was recovered from scrotal sac. The only part of the track of bullet which was in a straight line was through the vertebral column.


(Contributed by Dr Sudhir Gupta)

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