Injection of toxic agents: an unusual cause of death.
Self-injection of toxic substances is a rare method of suicide. Since only case reports exist in the forensic literature, an evaluation of the autopsy reports of the Munich Department of Legal Medicine in the period 1976-1994 was performed including 36 suicides and seven homicides due to injection of toxic agents. The majority of the decreased were physicians nurses or, in cases of homicidal intoxication relatives. The commonly used substances were anaesthetic drugs.
Peschel
O
O
Department of Legal Medicine, University of Munich, Germany.
Betz
P
P
Eisenmenger
W
W
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001344:Autopsy; D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D015386:Hazardous Substances / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000506:poisoning*; D006708:Homicide / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007267:Injections / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013405:Suicide / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
D015386:Hazardous Substances