An unusual case of a triple suicide pact at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Autor: Raddi S; Health Science Department, Forensic Pathology Section, University of Florence, Florence, Italy., Tarozzi I; Department of Legal Medicine and Risk Management, Modena Local Health Unit, Modena, Italy., Cecchetti M; Italy State Police, Arezzo Police Headquarter, Arezzo, Italy., Chericoni S; Forensic Toxicology Laboratory, Department of Surgical, Medical, Molecular, Pathology and Critical Care, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy., Franceschetti L; Department of Medical and Surgical Specialties, Radiological Sciences and Public Health, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy.; Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health, University of Milan, Milan, Italy., Bugelli V; Department of Legal Medicine, South-East Tuscany Health Unit, Grosseto, Italy.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Journal of forensic sciences [J Forensic Sci] 2023 Nov; Vol. 68 (6), pp. 2194-2199. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Aug 10.
DOI: 10.1111/1556-4029.15358
Abstrakt: In December 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared SARS-CoV2 a global pandemic. Home confinement, low social contacts, and fear of virus transmission played a major role as risk factors for suicides during the following period. Suicide pacts, in particular, showed a different pattern. A rare case of a triple suicide pact among members of the same family nucleus is presented. The victims were an elderly, severely ill woman and her adult children (a son and daughter), linked by a morbid relationship. The last time the family was seen alive was 40 days before the discovery. All corpses presented decompositional changes. After a full autopsy, the cause of death was determined to be a lethal intake of morphine for the mother and acute blood loss due to self-stabbing at the neck for the siblings. The younger woman was under the effects of a large amount of heparin. Toxicological analysis was positive for opioids and alcohol in both siblings. Suicide pacts have rarely been described during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the few cases reported, the victims were more often relatives than people in a romantic relationship. The involvement of three people is unusual, as is the use of different suicide methods among the victims. In the presented case, the elderly mother's imminent death from terminal cancer, her concern over dying in a nondomestic environment, and the siblings' fear of being alone likely led to the conception of the suicide pact. Social isolation and economic difficulties also played a contributing role.
(© 2023 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
Externí odkaz: