title: Suicide by multiple blunt head traumatisation using a stone.
abstract: Apart from collisions with road or rail vehicles and falls from height, self inflicted blunt force is a rare suicide method and mainly seen in psychiatric patients. The paper presents a rare case of suicide by active blunt force. A 68-year-old man committed suicide by repeatedly hitting his head with a stone. He sustained a craniocerebral trauma and finally died from hypothermia due to the low outdoor temperature. According to the relatives, the man was not diagnosed with a mental disorder or suicidal tendencies. Uncommon manners of self-harm are challenging for those involved in the investigation, and a differentiation between suicide, accident and homicide can only be made in synopsis of all findings.
authors: Institute of Forensic Medicine, Freiburg University Medical Centre, Freiburg, Germany. annette.thierauf@uniklinik-freiburg.de
authors: Annette
authors: A
authors: Thierauf
authors: Sabine
authors: S
authors: Lutz-Bonengel
authors: Timo
authors: T
authors: Sänger
authors: Susanne
authors: S
authors: Vogt
authors: Wolf
authors: W
authors: Rupp
authors: Markus Grosse
authors: MG
authors: Perdekamp
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D003080:Cold Temperature / Q000009:adverse effects; D049429:Forensic Pathology; D016489:Head Injuries, Closed / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D006407:Hematoma, Epidural, Cranial / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007035:Hypothermia / Q000209:etiology; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000097:blood; D012887:Skull Fractures / Q000473:pathology; D013405:Suicide; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry
chemical_list: D013287:Illicit Drugs; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations