Forensic Features of Clothing-Related Deaths

Abstract

Clothing may both cause death and contribute to ongoing lethal mechanisms by a variety of quite disparate mechanisms. The manner of death may be accidental, suicidal, or homicidal. Accidental deaths include burning from clothing catching on fire, strangulation from clothing tangling in vehicle wheels or exposed machinery, and drowning. Entanglement of clothing in machinery may also result in significant injuries, which are not uncommon in farming communities. Excessive clothing, or its absence, may significantly alter body temperature, and hanging from clothing is a feature in the young or in mentally or physically handicapped adults, or in adults who are intoxicated with alcohol or drugs. In previous years, potentially lethal amounts of arsenic were present in clothing and accessories from dyes. Clothing may also be used to form nooses or to pad ropes in suicides and may be used in cases of strangulation, suffocation, or choking in homicides. The contribution of clothing to mortality has changed over the years with changes in fashions and in manufacturing techniques. Geographical differences in clothing-related deaths persist because of variable social and cultural practices and legislative frameworks.

Ligature Strangulation in a Vehicular Accident Due to the Entanglement of a Shirt: An Autopsy Case

“…Infants are sometimes accidentally strangled in their cots when the neck is caught inside bars, restainers, and braces. There are also instances reported when the neck of jackets/sweatshirts becomes entangled in gaps or projections on equipment such as slides (6,7). Accidental strangulation due to entrapment of the neck in clothing, especially with vehicular accidents, has been characteristically defined in "Isadora Duncan syndrome" or the "long scarf syndrome" (8)(9)(10)(11).…”