Suicide by poisoning

The chronicles of ancient Greece contain few references to criminal poisoning, but the fact that Hippocrates required his students to swear that they would give no deadly medicine to anyone if asked, nor suggest any such counsel implies that it existed. Suicide by poison was fairly common the state gave permission and provided a lethal dose of hemlock. In the Roman Republic, however, criminal poisoning reached epidemic proportions as documented by Livy (59 bc-17 ad) in his History of Rome. 

So effective was Mithridates formulation that he tried unsuccessfully to commit suicide by poisoning, and finally killed himself with a Celtic sword . 

Pliny writes by his unaided efforts Mithridates devised the plan of drinking poison daily after first taking remedies in order to achieve immunity by sheer habituation. He was the first to discover the various antidotes, one of which is even known by his name . So effective was Mithridates formulation that he tried unsuccessfully to commit suicide by poisoning, and finally killed himself with a Celtic sword . 

As in all cases of suicide by poisoning, separation of the toxic effects of the poison from the underlying mental condition leading to the suicide presents a challenge. Table 11-3 excludes, when known, psychiatric symptoms reported after suicidal uses of thallium or withdrawal... 

Poisoning in man falls under one of the three headings accident, suicide, or murder. Of these, accidents and suicides are distressingly common, and murder comparatively rare. In England and Wales during the years 1958-61 there were a total of 1633 cases of accidental poisoning and 3955 suicides by poisoning, but only 6 cases of murder by this means... 

Industrial accidents and suicide by poisoning are very much more common than homicide. Toxic pesticides including organophosphate insecticides, and the herbicide paraquat, are more commonly encountered in homicide and suicide in the developing world. Nerve gases, such as sarin, which have been used in warfare and terrorism, are structurally related to the organophosphates, and atropine is the antidote for both. 

Coalition to Stop Handgun Violence. The Unspoken Tragedy Firearm Suicide in the United States. Washington, D.C. Educational Fund to End Handgun Violence and Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, 1995. Reports that firearms are being increasingly used in suicides by females, a group that had previously preferred poison. Because firearms are more often lethal than other means, the fatality rate for female suicide attempts has increased. 

FIGURE 1 — 18. Neuronal death can occur by either necrosis or apoptosis. Necrosis is analogous to neuronal assassination, in which neurons explode and cause an inflammatory reaction after being destroyed by poisons, suffocation, or toxins such as glutamate. On the other hand, apoptosis is akin to neuronal suicide and results when the genetic machinery is activated to cause the neuron to literally fade away without causing the molecular mess of necrosis. 

White phosphorus is highly toxic. People have attempted suicide by ingesting matches, fireworks, roach poison, or rat poison containing white phosphorus. Unless emergency poison treatments are applied within 2-3 hours, death is likely. Animal data are consistent with human data after acute oral exposure. Further, a life-threatening condition called phossy jaw has been described following intermediate or chronic occupational exposure to white phosphorus. 

Dr. F. Warren Lovell, Ventura County s coroner, says he knows of two oleander poisoning cases—one in which a %-year-old woman in. Northern California committed suicide by eating oleander leaves and a case in which a Haitian herb doctor in Florida prescribed oleander tea for ailing patients and accidentally killed one. 

Mutch E, Blain PG, Williams FM Interindividual variations in enzymes controlling organophosphate toxicity in man. Hum Exp Toxicol 11 109-116,1992 Nalin DR Epidemic of suicide by malathion poisoning in Guyana. Tropical and Geographical Medicine 25 8-14,1973... 

According to some reports, Egyptian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Field Marshall Mohammed Abd el Hakim Amer, who headed the defeated Egyptian Army in the 1967 Six Days War, was later poisoned, institutionally, by this substance. Allegedly, he committed suicide by means of aconitine that had been introduced to him while arrested [69]. An unidentified toxicant, possibly the same plant toxin, was used to replace the antidote with which Egyptian autoinjectors were filled, for personal assassinations [70]. 

In 1952, an army recruit attempted suicide by taking rat poison containing warfarin. On admission to hospital he had numerous subcutaneous haemorrhages and was suffering from nose-bleeds. His prothrombin time was 54 seconds, compared with a normal value of 14 seconds. (The prothrombin time is the time taken for the formation of a fibrin clot in titrated plasma after the addition of calcium ions and thromboplastin to activate... 

Homicide by poison fascinates us, but in the modern developed world, it is rather rare. In some cases, a toxicologist may be asked to test for a particular substance on the basis of what was found at the crime scene—for example, carbon monoxide in a fire death or a specific drug in a suspected suicide. The toxic material may, however, be partially (a number of possible substances were available in the vicinity of the deceased) or completely unknown. In these cases, it is usual to start with substances locally available and profile the deceased—few pensioners abuse controlled substances or have access to obscure spider venoms. 

Barbituric acid (HjBA) has been known since 1863 when it was first synthesized by Adolf von Baeyer by the condensation of urea with malonic acid [105]. Subsequent years led to the development of its derivatives, collectively known as barbiturates, which were introduced for medical use by the beginning of the twentieth century [106]. Since then interest in this class of compounds virtually exploded, which is evident from the fact that up to date more than 2500 of its derivatives have been synthesized, while a number of them also made it to the market. However, by the second half of the 20 century, barbiturates have acquired a somewhat grim reputation in popular culture, since they were often used in suicides (including some high-profile suicides by Ryunosuke Akutagawa and Marilyn Monroe, and so on), and were the poisons of choice in numerous whodunnit detective stories. 

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