Source (ResearchGate)

Fig 1, 2: Three years after the incident.
Fig 3: A month after the incident, after a surgical debridement.

In April 2015, a 7-year-old male (born in 2007) was playing and running in a school canteen, when he tripped over a tea-urn cable and hot water spilled on his body. In records, no information whether first aid was provided or not or the specific first aid if provided in the school. The first medical records stated a second degree burn covering 30% of the child’s body. In follow-up process, multiple surgical debridement, escharotomies, skin autografts and artificial skin grafts and hyperbaric oxygen therapy were performed due to skin infection. Moreover, sepsis and renal insufficiency developed (Figure 3).

Three years after the accident, the child with his family applied to our department for his forensic report to prepare for penal proceedings. The examination showed a loss of subcutaneous adipose tissue and muscular tissue extending from the right armpit to the right side of the abdominal wall and keloids on the right and left thighs (Figure 1, 2).

No significant restriction was observed in the joint range of motion. Moreover, psychiatric symptoms such as social isolation, eye contact avoidance and speech reduction were observed. The treatment of the scald was said to be ongoing.