Eight cases of suicide by self-cutting or -stabbing: consideration from medico-legal viewpoints of differentiation between suicide and homicide.
The present article describes eight cases of suicide by self-cutting or -stabbing. Seven of the deceased had a history of psychiatric problems. In every case, sharp weapon injuries were observed at typical sites of self-inflicted injury. The self-inflicted injuries varied in severity from a single stab wound to multiple cut wounds. In four cases, hesitation marks were found. Among the remaining four cases without hesitation marks, only one had clothing injuries. Based on the scene investigation by police, it was deduced that each body had been found at or very near the place where the fatal injuries had been sustained. In two cases, toxicological analysis played an important role in discriminating suicide from homicide. In one case, a 52-year-old male stabbed himself fatally after potassium hydroxide ingestion, and in another, a 71-year-old male committed suicide by self-cutting and -stabbing after drinking an alkaline detergent solution. In five of the eight cases, unusual findings such as a single stab wound, multiple cut injuries, no hesitation mark or presence of clothing injuries were found. In these five cases, the psychiatric history of the deceased contributed to furthering our comprehension of these unusual findings. We believe that thorough toxicological analysis and scene investigation as well as autopsy are essential in discriminating between homicide and suicide. Furthermore, forensic pathologists and forensic physicians at the scene should obtain as much information as possible on the victim's previous character including previous psychiatric history in order to elucidate his or her manner of death.
Ohshima
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Department of Legal Medicine, Kanazawa University, Faculty of Medicine, Takaramachi 13-1, Kanazawa 920-8640, Japan.
Kondo
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