Fabricated or Assault Wounds - A Scientific Approach

Background: Fabricated (fictitious, forged or invented) wounds are usually superficial injuries mostly produced by a person on his own body (self-inflicted) or occasionally, caused by another person acting in agreement with him (self-suffered). Assault means a physical attack by another person. Case Report: We received two cases, within a short period, from different police stations, with multiple incised wounds over different regions of the body. Characteristically one of the cases was brought with all fresh wounds and another with all healed linear scar marks. Both these cases were presented as assault wounds in the hospital. As the history of both cases was misleading and the investigating authority was suspecting fabricated wounds, medical opinion regarding the manner of injuries was sought. Conclusion: Present case report deals with importance of proper history taking, pattern of injuries, examination and use of simple techniques like photography and hand lens to rule out assault wounds.