A case of suicide disguised as natural death.
A case report describing the suicide of a physician classified initially as a natural death. Faced with the vehement protest of the family of the deceased the magistrate decided to request a 'preventive' forensic autopsy. Forensic investigations revealed the cause of death as being a pentobarbital intoxication and the circumstances favoured the hypothesis of a genuine suicide. This case illustrates that the tendency of magistrates to request or not an autopsy is related to their experience or intuition.
Brandt-Casadevall
C
C
Institut universitaire de Médecine légale, Bugnon 21, 1005 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Krompecher
T
T
Giroud
C
C
Mangin
P
P
D001344:Autopsy; D008192:Deception; D062787:Drug Overdose; D005554:Forensic Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives / Q000506:poisoning*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010424:Pentobarbital / Q000506:poisoning*; D013405:Suicide; D013557:Switzerland
D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives; D010424:Pentobarbital