A compound rib fracture may be mistaken for a gunshot wound. The authors are from the Office of the Chief Coroner in Toronto, Canada.
Mechanism: compound rib fracture
Appearance: penetrating wound with an abrasion collar
Confounder: gunshot causing a fractured rib
Features suggesting a pseudo-gunshot wound:
(1) no exit wound and no bullet within
(2) absence of powder residues on clothing
(3) rib fracture with sharp edge at the level of the skin wound
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Specialty: Clinical Laboratory, Surgery, orthopedic
