title: [Perforating gunshot to the head with a power-actuated tool].
abstract: The article describes a shortly survived suicide with a powder-actuated tool. A 51-year-old man shot all through his head from the right to the left temple. The pin produced an extensive area of destruction in the brain tissue, but neither in the hospital nor during the autopsy was any projectile found. Finally the pin was detected in a metal fitting of the bed in which the man had killed himself. The suicide instrument was a powder-actuated tool firing a metal pin after igniting a cartridge. Unlike a nail gun using compressed air, pins fired by means of a propellant reach a velocity of up to 150 m/s thus developing a higher destructive potential.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Rechtsmedizin am Universitätsklinikum Düsseldorf.
authors.forename: Felix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mayer
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lerm
authors.forename: Hildegard
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Grass
mesh_terms: D001344:Autopsy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000473:pathology*; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000473:pathology*; D005389:Firearms / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013405:Suicide / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014948:Wounds, Gunshot / Q000473:pathology*