title: A suicide using a homemade carbon monoxide "death machine".
abstract: Deaths related to carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning are common. Most represent accidents and suicides, and most result from CO production via the incomplete combustion of carbon-containing substances. Suicide via CO toxicity is not uncommon and typically involves the use of motor-vehicle exhaust as a source of CO. Presented herein is a case of suicidal CO poisoning in which the CO was produced via a chemical reaction between formic acid and sulfuric acid within a homemade device.
authors.affiliation: South Bend Medical Foundation and Indiana University School of Medicine--South Bend Center for Medical Education at the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana 46601, USA. jprahlow@sbmf.org
authors.forename: Joseph A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Prahlow
authors.forename: Barrett W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Doyle
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002248:Carbon Monoxide / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D002249:Carbon Monoxide Poisoning / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002263:Carboxyhemoglobin / Q000032:analysis; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D005561:Formates / Q000737:chemistry / Q000506:poisoning; D006490:Hemostatics / Q000737:chemistry / Q000506:poisoning; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013405:Suicide; D013464:Sulfuric Acids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000506:poisoning
chemical_list: D005561:Formates; D006490:Hemostatics; D013464:Sulfuric Acids; C030544:formic acid; D002248:Carbon Monoxide; D002263:Carboxyhemoglobin; C033158:sulfuric acid