Citation

Cherington M, Kurtzman R, Krider EP, Yarnell PR. Am. J. Forensic Med. Pathol. 2001; 22(3): 296-298.

Affiliation

Lightning Data Center, Centura Health-St. Anthony Hospital, Denver, Colorado 80204, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2001, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

11563744

Abstract

A healthy 20-year-old man failed to return home after a jog in the Colorado mountains. His lifeless body was found the next day on an exposed mountain slope. The differential diagnosis in such mysterious, unwitnessed mountain deaths includes cardiac arrhythmia, cerebral hemorrhage, pulmonary embolism, seizures, trauma, high-altitude sickness, and hypothermia. The cause of death in this case was established on postmortem examination. The findings of ruptured tympanic membranes and a melted shoe established this as a case of lightning strike fatality. The National Lightning Detection Network can be a valuable resource to investigators by providing information on the location and date of lightning strikes in the vicinity of the victim.

Language: en