Complex and complicated suicides in Friuli (1993–2017)
| Autor: | Lorenzo Desinan, Fabio Bassan, Orazio Elia Sciarappa, Carlo Scorretti, Francesco Simonit, Fabiola Giudici |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male medicine.medical_specialty Forensic pathology 01 natural sciences Complex suicide complicated suicide forensic pathology 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Cause of Death medicine Humans 030216 legal & forensic medicine Psychiatry Forensic Pathology Aged Retrospective Studies Health Policy 010401 analytical chemistry Middle Aged 0104 chemical sciences Suicide Issues ethics and legal aspects Suicide methods Italy Female Psychology Law |
| Zdroj: | Medicine, Science and the Law. 61:14-24 |
| ISSN: | 2042-1818 0025-8024 |
| DOI: | 10.1177/0025802420934661 |
| Popis: | Complex suicides involve more than one suicide method. According to the intention of the victim, they are classified as ‘planned’ when the use of more than one suicide technique has been previously devised by the victim and ‘unplanned’ when the first method turns out to be too painful or insufficient to cause death, and the individual then resorts to other means of suicide. Complicated suicide, on the other hand, is a term that was introduced by Töro and Pollak, in which a failed act of suicide is followed by traumatisation, which has a fatal outcome. This type of death must be distinguished from complex suicides. From a sample of 1160 fatalities (837 males) between 1993 and 2017, we identified 20 (1.72%) cases of complex suicide and three (0.26%) cases of complicated suicide. We considered age, sex, psychiatric history, previous suicide attempts, suicide methods and eventual secondary traumatisation. We also compared planned and unplanned complex suicides. The results show a higher number of planned complex suicides (16 vs. 4), a prevalence of males ( n = 17) and adults (median age = 48 years, range 21–74 range). Plastic bag suffocation and gas inhalation ( n = 8) were the most commonly used methods. Firearms ( n = 4) were used exclusively by males in planned complex suicides. Wrist and forearm cuts ( n = 5) were found in four unplanned and one planned complex suicides, and all of the cases with known previous suicidal attempts ( n = 3) involved planned complex suicides. Complicated suicides concerned three male victims in two failed attempts of hanging and an unforeseen carbon monoxide intoxication following a non-fatal gunshot to the mouth, confirming the rarity of these fatalities. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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