title: Accidental hanging by a T-shirt collar in a man with morphine intoxication: an unusual case.
abstract: Accidental hanging is rare across all age groups, and it is even rarer in the adult population except in autoerotic asphyxia. Few cases have been reported in the literature, which describe unusual patterns of accidental hanging. This article focuses on an unusual pattern of accidental hanging of a 25-year-old man, who was in a state of morphine-induced central nervous system depression and found dead in a sitting position with the collar of his T-shirt hanging off a jutting-out root of a tree. The hanged collar acted as a ligature compressing the neck.
authors.affiliation: From the *Department of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya; †Teaching Hospital, Peradeniya; and ‡General Hospital, Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka.
authors.forename: Sarathchandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kodikara
authors.forename: Ramesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Alagiyawanna
mesh_terms: D000059:Accidents; D000328:Adult; D001237:Asphyxia / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009020:Morphine / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000097:blood; D019838:Neck Injuries / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D011187:Posture
chemical_list: D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants; D009020:Morphine