Suicide note on the palm: Three case reports and discussion of medico-legal aspects

Abstract

Suicide notes are usually written by the victim on paper or readily accessible things such as notebooks, walls or mirrors. Though writing may be found on the body of the deceased, suicide notes in a structured manner written on the palm have not been reported in forensic literature. In all the three cases presented here, we found a handwritten note on the palm of the deceased at the time of autopsy. The victims had written a brief note in their own handwriting, citing the reasons for ending their lives. The suicide note in one case also mentioned details regarding the custody of the victim's children to be given to her mother. Since we have not found similar cases in the literature, we present and discuss our three cases herein.

Engraved Suicide Notes: The Last Note Written on Body by Metallic Object

“…, Behera et al. , and Austin and Byard also reported few cases of suicidal deaths where the notes were written on the body by pen or markers. Thus, skin messaging was found significantly less often than the standard notes using conventional methods.…”

“…Notes are found in only 10-30% cases of suicides (4) and were typically written on some materials such as paper, notebook, wall, and mirror (3). Rarely, the suicidal notes are written on one's own body, referred to as "skin messages" or "body writing," by pen or markers (1,(4)(5)(6). Taylor (4) also reported few cases of suicidal deaths where the notes were written on the body by pen or markers.…”

Last Words: Are There Differences in Psychosocial and Clinical Antecedents Among Suicide Decedents Who Leave E‐Notes, Paper Notes, or No Note?

“…Suicide notes conventionally are handwritten on paper, walls, body parts, or mirrors (Behera, Rautji, Krishna, Kumar, & Gupta, ; Demirci, Dogan, Erkol, & Gunaydin, ). However, the advent of new electronic technologies has contributed new forms of communication such as e‐mail, text messages, tweets, blogs, video‐sharing Web sites, chat rooms, and postings on social media sites.…”

“…These emerging new communication technologies/media have influenced suicide-related communications, from posting and tweeting on social networking sites to suicide note-leaving. However, this new emerging phenomenon of E-suicide notes remains generally under-researched, and no previous study examined the psychosocial and clinical characteristics of decedents who left behind E-notes (Behera, Karthik, et al, 2014;Carpenter et al, 2016;Gunn & Lester, 2013;Karbeyaz et al, 2014;Ruder, Hatch, Ampanozi, Thali, & Fischer, 2011). The aim of our study was to extend previous research that examined the differences in psychosocial and clinical characteristics of suicide decedents who left suicide notes and, more specifically, contribute to an area of research which is generally underresearched in suicidology by exploring the characteristics of suicide decedents who left E-notes.…”

Evidence of Premeditation in Skin Messages in Suicide

“…Suicide notes written on the skin are a rare occurrence and have not been widely reported in the literature . The reasons for using skin messages rather than more conventional letters or electronic media are not well understood .…”