Assisted suicide by oxygen deprivation with helium at a Swiss right-to-die organisation

Abstract

The dying process of oxygen deprivation with helium is potentially quick and appears painless. It also bypasses the prescribing role of physicians, effectively demedicalising assisted suicide. Oxygen deprivation with a face mask is not acceptable because leaks are difficult to control and it may not eliminate rebreathing. These factors will extend time to unconsciousness and time to death. A hood method could reduce the problem of mask fit. With a hood, a flow rate of helium sufficient to provide continuous washout of expired gases would remedy problems observed with the mask.

Quantification of fatal helium exposure following self-administration

“…Since then, many other cases have been reported after victims have read suicide guides available to the public on the Internet [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. It appears that this technique causes an accelerated death.…”

A 20-Year-Old Man with a Suicide Attempt Using Helium

“…Inhaling helium directly from pressurized tanks can also lead to barotrauma because the high flow rate can result in rupture of the lung tissue. 7 Given the availability of helium and the recent promotion of this method of suicide, it is becoming obvious that a new trend in suicide attempts is emerging.…”

Toxicology of Specific Substances

“…Barbiturate mortality was even used as an index for its use (Richman and Orlaw 1965) and the addition of emetics had been proposed to prevent suicides (Sandberg 1953). Barbiturates have again gained questionable fame as the drug of choice for assisted suicide endorsed by right-to-die societies (Flanagan and Rooney 2002;Bosshard et al 2003;Nordentoft et al 2007;Ogden et al 2010). Barbiturates are still used in therapy, but with decreasing frequency.…”