Thermal and Electrical Injuries MCQs

Forensic Medicine · 19 free questions with answers & explanations.

1. A boxer's (pugilistic) attitude seen in a body recovered from a fire is caused by:
2. Joule burn (crocodile skin appearance) is specifically associated with:
3. A body is retrieved from a house fire. The heat causes the body to assume the 'pugilistic' (boxer) posture. This posture results from:
4. An electrical lineman is found dead. Examination shows a single pale, parchmented, dry entry mark on the right palm with elevated edges (Joule burn). No exit wound is found. Which scenario BEST explains death without an exit wound?
5. Lightning strike injuries are distinct from industrial electrocution. Which finding is PATHOGNOMONIC (virtually unique) to lightning strike injury?
6. A body recovered from a house fire is found in the pugilistic (boxing) attitude. The cause of this posture is:
7. A 25-year-old electrician survives a high-voltage electrical injury. He has a small circular entry wound on his right palm with central charring and surrounding blanched skin (Joule burn). Where would the EXIT wound MOST likely be located, and what would its appearance be?
8. In a case of death due to electrocution at household voltage (220V AC), postmortem examination shows a small, pale, firm, raised lesion with a central pale area surrounded by a ring of hyperpigmentation at the entry site on the right hand. This finding is BEST described as:
9. A victim of a house fire is found dead. At autopsy, the body shows the pugilistic posture. Soot is absent from the trachea and lower airways; carboxyhaemoglobin is 5%. The MOST likely interpretation of these findings is:
10. An execution-chamber electrocution produces a contact mark (Joule burn) at the scalp electrode site. The histology of this Joule burn is characterised by:
11. A lightning strike victim is found dead. Which of the following features is PATHOGNOMONIC of lightning strike and not seen in other electrical fatalities?
12. In a 35-year-old male found dead after a house fire, the 'split laceration' of the scalp and 'heat haematoma' (epidural collection) must be distinguished from ante-mortem injuries. The key distinguishing feature is:
13. In an electrical fatality, the entry wound (contact wound) at the point of current entry shows all of the following features EXCEPT:
14. In a fire death, the 'pugilistic attitude' (boxer's posture) of the burnt body is due to:
15. In electrocution, the finding of a Joule burn (electric mark) at the entry site is characterised by:
16. A victim of high-voltage (>1000V) electrical injury is found at the scene with a charred entry wound on the right palm and an exit wound on the left foot. The MOST reliable autopsy feature that distinguishes ante-mortem from post-mortem electrical burns in this high-voltage case is:
17. An autopsy of a body recovered from a house fire shows 'pugilistic attitude' (flexion of upper and lower limbs). This finding in the absence of other evidence is BEST interpreted as:
18. In a fatal electrocution death, which of the following postmortem internal findings would CONFIRM that current passed through the heart as the mechanism of death, as opposed to respiratory arrest from tetanic respiratory muscle spasm?
19. A body is recovered from a house fire. Autopsy reveals: pugilistic attitude, epidural hematoma, heat-cracked bone, and absence of soot in the airway or carboxyhemoglobin in blood. Which conclusion is MOST appropriate?