Suicidal overkill - three case reports

Abstract

All around the globe suicide is an increasing health problem because of the devastating effects that the loss of lives it leaves behind. There are instances when a suicide attempt is but a warning signal, a kind of cry for help, but in some cases its drastic character excludes any doubt about its annihilative aim. There are such situations in which the individuals opting for suicide try to limit the risk of failing in such act to the minimum. This article presents three suicide cases autopsied at the Bistrita-Nasaud County Forensic Division tht share the fact that they use multiple, converging methods of self-destruction: the first case is that of an elderly man who, after ingesting a significant amount of thiocarbamide pesticides, hangs himself, the second case is that of a policeman in the rural area who, upon an acute alcohol intoxication, shoots himself six bullets in the stomach with the pistol provided, and the third case is of an unknown male citizen who, after sheltering under a bridge, drinks about 600 ml of petrol, then splashed himself with petrol and sets himself on fire.