Unplanned complex suicide by Self-Cutting and Drowning: A Case Report
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7439/ijbar.v10i2.5061Keywords:
Complex suicide, Self-Cutting, Drowning, Autopsy, Death Scene examinationAbstract
Many precious lives are lost every year by self-destruction or suicide making it a significant public health problem globally. Complex suicides are committed by using more than one method. In complex suicides, two or more methods are applied either simultaneously or one after the other. Usually two or more methods are applied simultaneously or one after the other in order to make sure that death will occur even if one method fails. There are a great number of complex suicides in the literature. It is so interesting to expand the list and to publish more cases of complex suicide which are examined by forensic worldwide. We present a case of a unplanned complex suicide by a man who used two methods not simultaneously but one after the other, first wrist cutting and then drowning for committing suicide. Drowning was probably used when the first method has failed after waiting for two hours. Forensic autopsy and death scene examination confirmed the circumstances of the case. In questionable suicides, the presence of different modes of traumatization or a combination of potentially fatal mechanisms may raise the suspicion of homicide. A careful inspection of the scene and a full autopsy are necessary to elucidate the correct manner and cause of death in such cases. This case illustrates an example of such a case.
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