Kaliszan Michał
Department of Forensic Medicine, Medical University of Gdańsk, ul. Dębowa 23, Gdańsk, 80-204, Poland.
Forensic Sci Med Pathol. 2024 Dec 12. doi: 10.1007/s12024-024-00930-4.
The case presents a suicide committed by a 21-year-old man who thrusted a broken tree branch into his chest which penetrated to his heart and caused death. Despite the unusual tool, a tree branch, suicide was confirmed on the basis of similar attempted self-injury, which was committed several weeks earlier, and a history of mental disorders. The man committed suicide 3 days after leaving the psychiatric ward, where he had been hospitalized after being admitted immediately after his previous suicide attempt by self-stabbing with knife. He was discharged from the psychiatric hospital after 1.5 months therapy with diagnosis of improvement and denials of suicide thoughts. The presented case reflects the tragedy of a young man with mental disorders, who effectively committed suicide by using an unusual tool after several previous attempts made with the use of more frequently observed suicide methods. Such cases may cause problems to investigators as to whether the death was a result of suicide, homicide or accident. Therefore it is very important to complete the result of autopsy with analysis of medical history of the deceased, particularly regarding previous suicide attempts and psychiatric treatment. This is a first report of using such peculiar tool as tree branch to pierce the chest in effective suicide attempt.
该病例讲述的是一名21岁男子的自杀事件，他将一根折断的树枝刺入自己的胸部，树枝穿透心脏导致死亡。尽管使用的工具——树枝不同寻常，但基于几周前类似的自残未遂行为以及精神疾病史，自杀得以确认。该男子在离开精神病病房3天后自杀，此前他曾用刀自残，随后立即被收治入院并在精神病病房住院。经过1.5个月的治疗，他被诊断为病情好转且否认有自杀念头后从精神病院出院。该病例反映了一名患有精神疾病的年轻人的悲剧，他在之前几次使用更常见自杀方式未遂后，用一种不寻常的工具成功自杀。此类案件可能会给调查人员带来关于死亡是自杀、他杀还是意外的问题。因此，通过分析死者的病史，尤其是关于之前的自杀未遂和精神治疗情况来完善尸检结果非常重要。这是首例关于使用树枝这种奇特工具刺入胸部进行有效自杀未遂的报告。
