Citation

Tournel G, Dédouit F, Balgairies A, Houssaye C, De Angeli B, Bécart-Robert A, Pety N, Hédouin V, Gosset D. J. Forensic Sci. 2008; 53(5): 1174-1177.

Affiliation

Institut de Medecine Legale et Sociale, Faculte de Medecine de Lille, 59045 Lille Cedex, France.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1556-4029.2008.00795.x

PMID

18624895

Abstract

Described here is a case of suicide with the use of a chainsaw. A female suffering from schizophrenia committed suicide by an ingenious use of a chainsaw that resulted in the transection of her cervical spine and spinal cord. The findings of the resulting investigation are described and the mechanism of suicides with the use of a chainsaw is reviewed. A dry bone study was realized to determine the bone sections, the correlation between anatomic lesions and characteristics of chainsaw. The damage of organs and soft tissues is compared according to the kinds of chainsaw used.

Language: en