Citation

Chidananda PS, Sainath TV. Journal of South India Medicolegal Association 2011; 3(1): 9-13.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The present study was conducted on inpatients of suicide attempters admitted in the Government District McGann Hospital attached to Shimoga Institute of Medical Sciences, Shimoga, India from August to September 2009. Data were collected by interviewing with patients, relatives and friends with the help of a semi-structured questionnaire and Pierce suicide intent scale. Majority of the present study population were married males hailing from rural areas, living in nuclear families, and illiterates or completed only secondary education. Organophosphate consumption was the most common method employed for attempting suicide. Family conflicts, chronic illness and financial problems were the major precipitating factors. Suicides were attempted commonly at isolated places in the late-evening and night hours. Majority of them fell into medium- or high-risk of committing suicide as per the suicide intent scale. Implementation of strict laws governing the sale of pesticides is necessary to reduce suicides in this region. © 2011 South India Medico-Legal Society. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Suicide; Poisoning; Attempted suicide; Suicide intent scale