Retrograde amnesia following carbon monoxide poisoning

Abstract

Retrograde amnesia is a recognised neurological complication of carbon monoxide poisoning. This article describes the case of a female found dead in her bath where initial post-mortem findings and the surrounding circumstances raised strong suspicions of homicide, especially when there was contradictory evidence from her husband who was the only other person present. He was later diagnosed as having retrograde amnesia between his two visits to the bathroom to attend to his wife which caused him to merge them into one event, thus arousing suspicions of foul play. The discussion explores the current clinical views on non-fatal carbon monoxide poisoning as well as problems of interpretation of information derived from case work.

Accidental fatal intoxication with Carbon Monoxide

“…From the amount of ash in the dustbin brazier it was interesting to wonder if he had died the first time he used it, or had managed to get away with it a couple of times merely wondering why he had woken with a splitting headache the following morning before going off to his work as a kitchen porter, as we found out later. He may, of course, have not remembered anything as retrograde amnesia is a well-recognised neurological sequela of nonfatal CO poisoning [4,5].…”