Anny Sauvageau

..Obese people are equally susceptible to unnatural causes of death and it is crucial to maintain an adequate level of suspicion while investigating the cases of these individuals...

..This scale is developed by modifying the clinical scale to adapt it to the particular needs of death investigation. This scale can help the medical examiner and his team in approaching these deaths in a systematic and comprehensive way...

..An incidence of 0.2 to 0.5 cases per million inhabitants per year is a better estimate of the incidence of autoerotic deaths. The incidence in United States should be reassessed using epidemiological studies...

..So how long does it take to suffer irreversible damage by hanging or by strangulation? The only honest and scientifically valid answer seems to be that we do not know...

..A review of the pathophysiology of these reflex posturing gives some insight as to the possible elucidation for their absence in this specific case...

..The body of the deceased was completely naked, with a complex bondage system of ropes. In the victim's bedroom closet, a suitcase contained similar ropes and belts suggesting prior autoerotic activity. Semen was also found at the scene...

..As for the respiratory responses, all cases presented deep rhythmic abdominal respiratory movements (last one between 1 min 2 sec and 2 min 5 sec)...

..Nevertheless, this relatively higher homicidal rate may be a reminder that homicidal hangings do sometimes occur. This study emphasises the importance of not disregarding this manner of death in hangings...

..The type of suspension and ethanol intoxication does not seem to influence the timing of the agonal responses, whereas ischemic habituation in autoerotic practitioner might decelerate the late responses to hanging...

..As for mechanical asphyxia, it encompasses positional asphyxia as well as traumatic asphyxia. The rationales behind this proposed unified model are discussed...

..The other factors were not shown to contribute significantly to the presence of petechiae...

..Furthermore, new data without actual literature correlates were obtained in the conducting of this study and are presented here...

..No left or right predominance was observed in hesitations marks or defense wounds. Defense wounds were more widely distributed on the upper limbs than hesitation marks...

..It is therefore proposed that the presence of a fracture of the cricoid in an apparent suicidal hanging should be considered highly suspicious...

..Based on the most discriminating criteria, a decision tree was constructed to be potentially applicable to future cases...

..Despite differences in the types of hanging, this unique study reveals similarities that are further discussed...

..This 5-year retrospective study may contribute to a better understanding of typical deaths in the 4-19 group of age and therefore, bring a working basis for the forensic pathologist or medical examiner/coroner...

..Complete circulatory collapse seems to occur between 4 and 8.5 min. These observations from animal models of hanging are compared with the data collected from filmed human hangings. Avenues to improve animal models are discussed...

..Until now, the bloodstain patterns in these fatal cases have not been described. An examination of the bloodstain pattern in a case of fatal varicose vein rupture in an 84-year-old man is here reported...

..The results revealed predictability rates varying from 62.5 to 83.3% for criteria pointing towards a fall. As for combined criteria in favor of a blow, the assumption was accurate in all cases (100%)...

..Afterwards, they saw him running to the top of the basement stairs and jumping to the bottom of the stairs head first...

..The aim of the present study is to evaluate the role of contributing factors to the development of neck structure fractures, taking age categories into account...

..Possible suspicion criteria for limb bruises distribution are discussed, in relation to physiopathology of human asphyxia by hanging...

..In those two cases, investigation clearly provided evidence of prolonged survival: slightly more than 2h for the first case and about 8h for the second. Relevant literature is revised and physiopathological hypotheses are discussed...

..An intact left kidney and adipose tissue were found lodged in her throat just above her epiglottis. After a complete investigation, the cause of death was determined to be asphyxia by smothering due to animal tissue...

..The relative contributions of each of these theories to death in cases of hanging is still debated today...

..We here present the case of a 56-year-old woman found dead from a homicidal traumatic heart perforation by a D5 osteophyte...

..We here report the case of a 34-year-old man who died due to asphyxia, secondary to body wrapping in the largest and most complex plastic bag ever involved in a published case of autoerotic death...

..Despite the fact that extending the presented data on all cases of hanging asphyxia would be a mistake, this case gives a very interesting insight into movement and respiratory response to asphyxia by hanging...

..In contrast, results showed a higher average age for planned complex suicide victims. Finally, the authors discuss the application of the complex suicide definition...

..A review of the literature is presented and a new term, "suicide by inhalation of carbon monoxide in a fire," is proposed for such cases...

..7%), overdressing/body wrapping (1.5%), foreign body insertion (1.2%), atypical asphyxia method (2.9%), and miscellaneous (1.0%). All these atypical methods are further discussed individually...

..Despite the great experience of the investigative team, autoerotic death was not considered at first. This case illustrates the importance of forensic teams having knowledge of the particularities of female autoerotic deaths...

..It is usually seen with prolonged labour. We report a case of caput succedaneum in a forensic autopsy that overturned the mother's history of giving birth suddenly, consequently increasing the evidence of neonaticide...

..Here, we present a case of suicide by choking on toilet paper in a patient with a long history of schizophrenia. The case was ruled a suicide based on the patient having been witnessed in a previous unsuccessful attempt of the same act...

..The autopsy showed that both gunshot wounds were nonlethal and the cause of death was attributed to drowning. Though homicide was strongly suspected at first, the manner of death was later established as suicide...

..In a general context of financing problems, it can be appealing to management team to restrict access to external consultants. This study is important in reminding that such money savings do not come without a decrease in quality...

..Hence, in a context of forensic pathologist shortage, the improvement of coroner continuous training may reduce the workload...

..The woman's genitals were exposed, with her trousers down over her thighs. Rape homicide was strongly suspected, but autopsy findings proved otherwise...

..We present the case of a 55-year-old man who died from fatal asphyxia caused by a thyroglossal cyst...

..This technique was called tameshi-giri. Although the practice on human beings has since disappeared, the remaining cutting test records represent precious information about human body's resistance to sharp weapons...

..To establish authenticity of the shrunken head, we used all of the above-mentioned morphologic criteria along with microscopic hair examination and DNA analysis...

..We here report a case of a 2-year-old boy presenting with all the classic autopsy findings of SBS from a playground rocking toy shaken by an older child...

..Her feet were tied and elevated by a rope attached to the shower head and a hammer was taped to her forehead. This very unique suicide is reported along with review of the literature on suicide in the bath...

..He was submersed, tied underwater to a boat and was using a home-made diving apparatus for air supply. Death was ruled as accidental autoerotic asphyxia from rebreathing, caused by the faulty air-supply device...

..Although rare, it is a cause of sudden death not to be overlooked, especially in children...

..We report here the first case of sudden and unexplained death from acute hepatitis in infectious mononucleosis presenting as a suspicious death...

..In conclusion, this study establishes three criteria in favor of blows: (i) localization of a wound above the hat brim line; (ii) left side lateralization; and (iii) a high number of lacerations...

..This very unique case of intentional suicidal decapitation is the first reported case of a planned system intended to create decapitation outside the unique case of homemade guillotine and the more common decapitation by train...

..The loss of consciousness was closely followed by the onset of convulsions (7-11 seconds). These results are compared with the early agonal responses documented in filmed hangings and judo studies...

..External hemorrhage is an unusual complication of this common venous pathology. Reported here are 2 cases of severe external hemorrhage resulting from the perforation of a varicose vein...

..This systematic review allows an interesting insight into the physiopathology of those deaths, pointing more toward heart failure than to an asphyxial phenomenon per se...

..We report the unusual case of a death due to an apparent allergic reaction following ecstasy ingestion...

..The literature on suicidal stabbing, particularly focusing on the type of weapon and localisation of wounds, is reviewed...

..However, a higher number of authors, foreign authors, and international collaboration were found to be good predictive factors of publication...