Forensic Investigation of Electrostatic Shock Injury

Abstract

This investigation, undertaken in 1983, involved the occurrence of an injury of a sort hitherto unreported in the technical journals. However, forensic investigation of a personal injurys causations requires a complete and open-minded determination of the circumstances of the occurrence. It can be equally as important to eliminate what did not happen as well as to reconstruct with validity how the injury took place. Thereupon, the causations of the occurrence can be identified. The injury resulted in the amputation of part of the first joint of the subjects left index finger and was followed by tissue grafts and by retarded healing and hyper sensitization of the entire hand. As an electrical systems engineer, the writer was engaged by the subjects attorney to investigate the occurrence of the injury believed to have been caused electrically.