Profile of Medicolegal Death in Females in Thoothudi Medical College- A Retrospective Study

The cause of unnatural deaths in females differ from that of males. Unnatural death is an intentional(hanging, poison ingestion) or unintentional death (road traffic accidents) as a result of external factors. Thesocioeconomic differences in lifestyle are associated with differences in attitudes towards life and henceaccordingly the incidence of physical violence, suicides are encountered. There is an increasing incidenceof traffic accidents among females in recent years, this may be a result of development in education andocupational opportunities for female sex. A total of 70 cases were analysed, in analysing religion 60 (85.71%)cases belong to Hindu religion. 62 (88.57%) cases were married, 55 (78.57%) cases were house wife, 49(70%) cases were illiterate, 20 (28.57%)cases was seen in 61-70 years of age group, road traffic accidents 16(22.85%) cases were noted. Distribution and causes of unnatural female deaths in present study is not similarto the pattern found in most of the other Indian studies The present study revealed that the unintentionaltrauma, mainly the road traffic accidents are responsible for unnatural deaths of females i.e pedestrian andpillion riders. This highlights the importance of timely interventions of road safety measures.