title: Unusual phenomenology of autoerotic fatalities.
abstract: Between 1983 and 2003 forty accidental autoerotic deaths (all males, 13-79 years old) have been investigated at the Institute of Legal Medicine in Hamburg. Three cases with a rather unusual scenery are described in detail: (1) a 28-year-old fireworker was found hanging under a bridge in a peculiar bound belt system. The autopsy and the reconstruction revealed signs of asphyxiation, feminine underwear, and several layers of plastic clothing. (2) A 16-year-old pupil dressed with feminine plastic and rubber utensils fixed and strangulated himself with an electric wire. (3) A 28-year-old handicapped man suffered from progressive muscular dystrophy and was nearly unable to move. His bizarre sexual fantasies were exaggerating: he induced a nurse to draw plastic bags over his body, close his mouth with plastic strips, and put him in a rubbish container where he died from suffocation.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Legal Medicine, University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Butenfeld 34, D-22529 Hamburg, Germany. mudrack@uke.uni-hamburg.de
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Koops
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Janssen
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Anders
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Püschel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010262:Paraphilic Disorders / Q000473:pathology*