Plastic-bag Asphyxia in Adults

Abstract

Pathologist, Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester The fatal results of the misuse of thin plastic material, particularly plastic bags, have received wide publicity recently in the medical and lay press both of this country and of the U.S.A. If placed over the face or head the soft plastic may become electrically charged, is readily inhaled into the mouth and nose, where it clings tightly, resists removal, and rapidly produces asphyxia (B.M.J., 1959).Such deaths were thought to be confined to infants and small children, but recently four adult cases of asphyxia due to plastic material about the head have been encountered in unusual circumstances and are reported here.Case 1 On the night before his death this single 23-year-old schoolmlaster stayed late at school, where he was building a canoe.In the morning his body was found wedged in a tall dustbin in one of the closets in the staff lavatory.The body was head down, with the knees bent up to the chest and the ankles extended so that only the buttocks, soles of feet, and hands were visible. On the floor, beside the bin, was a woman's shoe. its fellow lying in the lavatory pan. On a looking-glass shelf above the wash-basins were a box of theatrical grease-paints, other theatrical make-up. and some grease-smeared cotton-wool. A large tin of motor grease was placed below the wash-basin, and elsewhere in the room a rubber kitbag containing pieces of net curtain, more cotton-wool, and scraps of rag was found. Beside the kitbag there was a home-made wooden box, hinged in the middle, 1 ft. (30 cm.) square and obviously intended as a mask, with holes for the neck, eyes, and mouth. The inside ot the mouth-hole was smeared with grease.Great difficulty was experienced in removing the body from the bin, which was 19j in. (49.5 cm.) in diameter and bent slightly oval by the pressure of the body. A small amount of blood from the nose lay in the bottom of the bin.The trunk was dressed in a plastic mackintosh, with a crepe bandage crossing over the chest and the ends wrapped about the neck. Below the mackintosh there were three cotton skirts over a thin rubberized raincoat, and below this again a garment made from a large plastic bag by cutting holes for the arms and neck. About the abdomen and between the legs was a sheet of plastic curtain material with some ejaculated seminal fluid on its inner surface. A pair of false breasts, filled with towelling, were strapped over the chest, and the only male garment was a pair of underpants.A woman's plastic raincap over a rubber bathing-cap covered the head. Net curtaining was tied over the face, which was covered by a " polythene " sheet in which were holes cut for the mouth and eyes. A thick layer of motor grease covered the cheeks and eyes, and, having apparently run, partly occluded the mouth and nose. The face was symmetrically criss-crossed with red and green grease-paint, and blue grease-paint had been smeared over a large area of each cheek.Necropsy.-Death was due to asphyxia.

Accidental Death Due to Autoerotic Asphyxia Coupled With Fetishistic Transvestism

“…Still considerable overlap is found in 8% of cases reported by Anderson HR [20]. Autoerotic deaths in transvestite are reported in young males [21,22].…”

Plastic-bag Suicide

“…Accidental death in children from respiratory obstruction by bags made from thin plastic sheeting is well known, and recently deaths of adults have occurred as a result of this material being put over the head, apparently to produce sexual stimulation (Johnstone et al, 1960). We have now seen three deaths from deliberate suicidal occlusion of the air passages in this way, where there was no sexual motivation and no possibility of accident.…”

Atypical Autoerotic Death

“…Occasional accidental deaths of an autoerotic nature have been reported. 3,16,17 Four decedents in our study used a plastic bag as a component of their autoerotic experience. Two cases of an accidental nature involved a plastic bag covering the head.…”