Forensic Pathology for Police - Brainshare Public Online Library

Electrocution 451
Fig. 17.3 High-tension power lines (greater than 100,000 V)
Direct current is an electrical current that flows in one direction within a circuit.
Battery-operated electrical devices, as well as various other specialized electrical
devices, including cardiac defibrillators and certain welding machines, utilize DC.
Generally, DC is considered less dangerous than AC; however, death can still result
from DC. Static electricity and lightning can be considered natural forms of DC
electricity.
Electrocution
By some individuals’ definition, the term “electrocution” implies that death has
occurred. A more generalized definition, and that which will be used here, uses
the term to describe any situation where a person becomes incorporated into an
electrical circuit, whether or not death or visible injury occurs.
In order for an electrocution to occur, a victim’s body must become incorporated
into an electrical circuit. For this to happen, the source of electricity must be of sufficient
force to overcome the resistance of the body, and a relatively low-resistance
pathway to ground must be present. Whether or not an electrocution results in death
depends on the amount of current passing through the body and the effects of that
current on the anatomic structures through which the current travels. The most susceptible
organ is the heart, in which electrocution can disrupt the internal electrical
activity and induce a fatal arrhythmia (abnormal heart rhythm). Other mechanisms
of death may also occur (see below). Since an electrical current tends to take the
shortest pathway between the point of entry and ground, the location of the entry
and exit (ground contact) are very important in determining whether or not a fatal
electrocution will occur. Ultimately, the amount of current flowing through a vital
body structure determines whether or not the electrocution is fatal, and the time