Journal of forensic sciences
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An unusual manner of carbon monoxide poisoning claimed the lives of two adults in two separate incidents. In the first case, a young man was four wheeling in a swampy area when his jeep became stuck in the mud as he continued to floor the accelerator. Carbon monoxide fumes entered the vehicle through the rusted floorboards, killing the driver. ⋯ The carboxyhemoglobin levels in these victims were 78 and 62% respectively. It was only through laboratory testing that carbon monoxide poisoning was identified as the cause of their demise. Physicians as well as the public need to be aware of the potential for this life threatening hazard to occur so that there can be proper emergency treatment and the prevention of fatalities.
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This paper presents 15 deaths of suicidal persons in Oregon and Florida who, by their behavior, sufficiently provoked law enforcement officers into killing them. Four deaths were certified as suicide, one as undetermined and ten as homicide. All of the deaths are individually described in detail and their case characteristics are presented in a table. ⋯ A brief discussion of psychiatric issues is also presented concerning individuals who use others to commit suicide and who may engage in dangerous and/or criminal behavior to do so. A major conclusion is that there is lack of a unified opinion on death certification procedures for individuals who have provoked law enforcement officers to kill them. For such cases, it is recommended that professional organizations of medical examiners/coroners develop guidelines to promote consistency in death certification practices including manner of death classification and selection of death certificate wording so that "police-assisted suicide" may be appropriately reported and studied.
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We describe a simple method for measuring sodium azide concentrations in aliquots of blood and other tissues. Aliquots are acidified, converting azide to volatile hydrazoic acid (HN3) which is then trapped in sodium hydroxide. We analyze the resulting aliquots by ion chromatography, using a sodium tetraborate eluent and suppressed conductivity detection. The method is sensitive to at least 100 ng/mL.
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Case Reports
Three cases of fatal firearm use following external hinge removal from locked gun cabinets.
In order to potentially decrease the number of homicides and suicides that result from firearms, one must decrease the accessibility of guns. We describe three cases that were obtained from the Onondaga County Medical Examiners Office in New York that occurred between January 1990 to March 1993. In two suicides and a double homicide, firearms were quietly obtained from commercially manufactured locked gun cabinets by removing the door hinges, which were located on the outside of the cabinet, with a screwdriver. ⋯ Removing hinges that are placed on the outside of the cabinet may be a common method of obtaining firearms to commit either homicide or suicide in the home, but perhaps not recognized. More information is needed. If additional cases are identified, then prevention in terms of gun cabinet design, may save lives in the future.