Pérez-Pérez V, Machado-Mendoza D, Pérez-Aguilar M

Language: Spanish
References: 7
Page: 1-10
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ABSTRACT

Introduction: of the violent deaths, the infantile one is the one with the greatest connotation. Its most frequent medicolegal cause is accidental suffocation. Sometimes, the lack of knowledge of the background of the case, the impossibility –due to the rush– of carrying out the necessary complementary tests, generate doubts in the attending physicians about the causes of death. As there are no external injuries, the forensic finding of the foreign body during the autopsy is the confirmation or revelation of the obstruction of the airways.
Objective: to present a case of death by accidental suffocation of an 11-month-old boy, caused by the aspiration of a foreign body.
Case presentation: 11-month-old boy who, at home, after being alone for a while without supervision, the mother realized that he was suffering from respiratory distress. He was transferred to the emergency service of the General Provincial Teaching Hospital “Dr. Antonio Luaces Iraola” of Ciego de Ávila. Although he was treated by a multidisciplinary group, he died. The presence of the legal doctor on duty was requested, and the necropsy found that the entrance to the glottis was obstructed by a small stone, which prevented breathing.
Conclusions: the 11-month-old boy died due to accidental asphyxiation. Obstruction with a stone, as a foreign body in the airways, caused mechanical asphyxiation and death. The narrowness of the respiratory ducts of the infant, its unfavorable family environment and the distance of the hospital influenced the fatal outcome.

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