A homicide victim has a deep wound on the shoulder inflicted by an axe. The wound shows clean-cut edges at its ends but the walls are crushed and bruised, with fissuring of the underlying bone. This injury is best classified as:

• A Incised wound
• B Laceration
• C Stab wound
• D Chop wound ✓

Explanation

Chop wounds are produced by heavy cutting weapons wielded with force, such as axes, machetes and hatchets. They combine features of sharp and blunt injury: the edge cuts cleanly, but the weight of the blow crushes and bruises the wound walls and often fractures or fissures underlying bone. A pure incised wound lacks crushing, a laceration lacks clean-cut ends, and a stab wound is deeper than wide.

Reference: Knight's Forensic Pathology, 4th ed.

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Written and medically reviewed by the StethoPrep medical team.