title: Nitrogen-plastic bag suicide: a case report.
abstract: The use of pure nitrogen gas to commit suicide has recently become more popular, although suicides involving nitrogen oxide fumes have been occasionally reported in the past. The cause of death in such cases is attributed to asphyxia due to forced depletion of oxygen, a subcategory of a phenomenon dubbed environmental hypoxia. A case of a 26-year-old man who committed suicide by inhaling nitrogen through a plastic bag is reported. The exact method of suicide used here is one of the many described in detail on the Web.
authors.affiliation: From the *Department of Forensic Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Crete; and †State Mental Health Hospital of Chania, Crete, Greece, ‡Edinburgh Unit for Forensic Anthropology, SHCA, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Maria S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Madentzoglou
authors.forename: Anastasia E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Kastanaki
authors.forename: Despoina
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nathena
authors.forename: Elena F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Kranioti
authors.forename: Manolis
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Michalodimitrakis
mesh_terms: D000280:Administration, Inhalation; D000328:Adult; D001237:Asphyxia / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D013405:Suicide
chemical_list: D009584:Nitrogen