Examples of tramline bruises in clinical forensic medicine

Excerpt

A 9-year-old deaf boy was brought to our institute by a social worker. He reported that a woman who worked in the children’s home where he lived had beaten him with a wooden stick the day before. He added that this was the third time that it had happened. When the woman was questioned about the events, she denied the physical abuse and claimed that the injuries had been caused by playing with other children. Physical examination of the boy revealed several injuries on his upper body; notably, six tramline bruises were present on his right arm (Fig. 1a, b), and six tramline bruises were present on his left forearm (Fig.1c). The injuries were 4.0 cm long and 1.2 cm wide. According to our expert report, the morphology and location of the injuries as well as the clustering of injuries was proof that these injuries were abuse-related (intentional). An accidental origin of the injuries was excluded.

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