Citation

Jungmann L, Perdekamp MG, Bohnert M, Auwärter V, Pollak S. Forensic Sci. Int. 2011; 209(1-3): e11-15.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.forsciint.2011.03.024

PMID

21497467

Abstract

An 88-year-old woman committed suicide by drinking a toxic amount of highly concentrated alcohol and setting two rooms of her flat on fire. As there was not enough oxygen, the fire went out, however. At autopsy, no thermal lesions were found on the body, but soot depositions in the airways and a COHb value of 14% pointed to the inhalation of fire fumes. The ethanol concentration in femoral blood was 6.62 per mille. The gastric mucosa was fixed by the ingested alcohol and showed hardly any autolytic changes despite a post-mortem interval of five days. Congener analysis of the gastric contents and the femoral blood indicated the uptake of a fruit distillate or its foreshot.

Language: en

Keywords

Humans; Female; Suicide; Ethanol; Fires; Forensic Pathology; Aged, 80 and over; Gastric Mucosa; Forensic Toxicology; Carboxyhemoglobin; Methanol; Pharynx; Soot; Larynx; Central Nervous System Depressants; Gastrointestinal Contents; Smoke Inhalation Injury; Pentanols; 1-Propanol; Butanones; 1-Butanol; Butanols