Quadruple Pact Suicide Attempt Involving a Man and Three Adolescents

Abstract

Pact suicides involving families have been reported in the scientific literature, but reports have been few from India. We report the case of a family, in which the father and three children had entered into a suicidal pact and executed it due to social reasons. A 41-year-old man, with no past psychiatric or substance use history, had reportedly come to know that his wife had been involved in an extra-marital affair. As expressed by him in a suicide note, he could not bear the humiliation due to this and also did not want his children to face disrespect from the society. He along with his daughter and 2 sons, aged 14, 12 and 11 years respectively, thus entered into a suicide pact to end their lives and wrote a suicide note. Man and two of his children consumed aluminum phosphide. However, the youngest son did not consume the poison and raised alarm, following which they were rushed for medical care. The father died, but the three children recovered completely. The case highlights the rare phenomenon of suicide pacts involving an adult and children.

Disparities in Postmortem Changes Leading to Suspicion of Manner of Death in a Dyadic Suicide Pact: A Case Report

“…In pact suicides, there are typically two adults involved. (2). In these types of pact hanging is usually preferred mean of suicide because ligature materials are readily available and hanging results in a painless death (3).…”

Filicide-suicide or a suicide pact? A case report from Sri Lanka with implications for child protection

“…(6). When a pact involves a parent and a child or children, it is almost always the parent who instigates the pact and on many occasions the parent is mentally unwell (7). In a case where chidlren are involved, it is often difficult to establish how competent they were, especially as a child is vulnerable to persuasion and often lacks the power to resist a parental order to obey, irrespctive of competency.…”

“…In a case where chidlren are involved, it is often difficult to establish how competent they were, especially as a child is vulnerable to persuasion and often lacks the power to resist a parental order to obey, irrespctive of competency. In addition , even though children are able to understand the act of suicide, they lack the adult competency to understand the consequences (7).…”