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On the evidential value of a Messerer fracture sustained in a car-pedestrian traffic accident
Sven Schmidt1, Ronald Schulz1, Heidi Pfeiffer1
1Institute of Legal Medicine, University Hospital Münster, Röntgenstraße 23, 48149, Münster, Germany.
Abstract:
A pedestrian was killed in a road traffic accident by collision with a car coming from the right. The victim's right femur was observed to have sustained a wedge-shaped fracture with biconcave side edges (so-called Messerer fracture), with the apex of the wedge pointing in the direction opposite to the direction of travel of the car. The absence of skin or soft tissue injuries in the area of the fracture means that it is reasonable to assume that this 'reverse wedge fracture' is an indirect fracture. The mechanism by which characteristic wedge-shaped fractures are produced through compression along the longitudinal axis of the bone has long been known. When reconstructing the direction of travel of a car involved in a collision with a pedestrian, forensic pathologists should therefore be cautious of assessing Messerer fractures in isolation.
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