Kodikara Sarathchandra
Department of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.
Med Sci Law. 2006 Jan;46(1):89-91. doi: 10.1258/rsmmsl.46.1.89.
Although hanging accounts for a considerable number of suicidal deaths in Sri Lanka, on rare occasions the victims survive. A few cases have been reported in the literature where victims survived after varying periods of unconsciousness. It has been observed that death does not necessarily result from hanging, provided the victim is brought down promptly and resuscitated actively and vigorously. This paper focuses on an unusual case of a 39-year-old male who survived after resuscitation, without any adverse neurological outcome, after a suicide attempt by hanging.