Contribuição da autopsia médico-legal para a investigação do acidente de trabalho fatal: relato de caso

Abstract

Work accidents are a major public health problem. Although they are understood to be unintentional events, they are both predictable and preventable. Medico-legal institutes play a key role in the investigation of fatal work-related accidents (FWRA) because all cases of violent or suspicious death must be subjected to forensic autopsy. The present is a report of a case of FWRA in which autopsy contributed to a better understanding of the event's dynamics. The case concerns a 34-year-old man believed to have suffered a fall at the workplace. Examination revealed reddish and purple bruises on the chest, upper limbs and the occipital area, and hardened, partially detached epidermal lesions on the fingers, with the characteristic macro- and microscopic appearance of passage of electric current while alive. Fractures on the left parietal and occipital bones were found, as well as diffuse traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage and laryngeal, subpleural and subepicardial petechiae. Blood alcohol and toxicology tests were negative. The cause of death was blunt head trauma, with signs of contact with electric current while alive. The autopsy therefore allowed for a better understanding of the mechanism of death, and ruled out the possibility of the worker having been under the effect of psychoactive substances at the time of event. Autopsy might be relevant to determine the sequence of events, thus contributing to the implementation of preventive measures.