Case Report: Medicolegal evaluation in a pediatric case of fatal scald injury from rural Nepal

Abstract

Thermal injuries in young children involving the buttocks, perineum, and lower limbs raise suspicion of child abuse. Determining the manner of death and ruling out homicide in a fatal case of scalding remains a challenge for forensic practitioners. In the present article, the medicolegal evaluation in a case of fatal scald injury involving a two-year-old child from rural Nepal is discussed. Young children sustaining serious injuries from scalds is a grave social concern. Such young lives need to be protected from scald injuries whether accidental or purposeful. Differences in injury patterns on the basis of their distribution and their characteristics are important to determine the manner of death in such cases.