title: Double suicide.
abstract: Most suicides are solitary and private; but few result from a pact between 2 people to die together. Two young men made a pact to commit suicide by hanging from a tree. It was the first case among 1320 single suicides in more than 2 decades in eastern Croatia. Double suicide between people of the same gander is an unusual event. It is predominantly made by male-female partners and by less violent methods. One of the 2 members experienced depression. He may have been the initiator and the other partner may have been the dependent. The initiator usually plans the act and stimulates the other party. Whether the decision was evenly shared by both partners and initiative came from one of the two or it was result of 2 independent decisions remains open for analysis. Double suicide is also very interesting from the perspective of medical examiners. They need to make comprehensive postmortem examination to finally conclude the proper cause and the manner of death.
authors.affiliation: From the Medical Faculty, University Osijek, Osijek, Croatia.
authors.forename: Mladen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marcikic
authors.forename: Zeljka
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Vuksic
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dumencic
authors.forename: Elizabeta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Matuzalem
authors.forename: Vesna
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cacinovic
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001237:Asphyxia / Q000473:pathology; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants / Q000097:blood / Q000652:urine; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D000431:Ethanol / Q000097:blood / Q000652:urine; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry; D033062:Friends; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019838:Neck Injuries / Q000473:pathology; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology*
chemical_list: D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants; D000431:Ethanol