Circumferential suicidal cutting of the lower legs
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Circumferential suicidal cutting of the lower legs Tijana Durmić 1 & Tatjana Atanasijević 1 & Milenko Bogdanović 1 Accepted: 23 July 2018 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018
Abstract A 69-year-old woman committed suicide by cutting her lower legs with a safety razor blade. Autopsy revealed horizontal incised wounds around the circumference of the lower legs, 24 cm above the heels, cutting superficial veins on both sides, the underlying lower legs muscles, and extending into both lower leg bones with associated hematoma formation. Also, there were a large number of superficial tentative or “hesitation” cuts ranging from 3 to 6 cm over the lower legs. Death was attributed to hemorrhagic shock following injuries to blood vessels of the lower legs. Keywords Suicide . Multiple incised wounds . Depression . Safety razor blade
Case report A 69-year-old woman was found dead on a sofa in a sitting position, surrounded by a pool of blood. The individual was alleged to have committed suicide by cutting her lower legs with a safety razor blade, which was found at the scene by the investigating police officers. According to her relatives, the deceased had been suffering from depression and diabetes mellitus for the last 10 years. Scene circumstances and autopsy findings, together with hesitation marks pointed towards suicide. Autopsy revealed a large number of superficial cuts of various sizes ranging from 3 to 6 cm over both lower legs (Figs. 1 and 2). These cuts were almost parallel to each other, wavy in nature, and had a transverse orientation indicating tentative wounds or “hesitation”. Below these, on both lower legs, there were horizontal incised wounds around the circumference of the lower legs, 24 cm above the heels, that had cut superficial veins on both sides, the underlying lower leg muscles, and extended into both lower leg bones with associated hematoma formation (Figs. 2 and 3). Deeper lower leg arteries on both sides
* Tijana Durmić [email protected] 1
Institute of Forensic Medicine “Milovan Milovanović”, School of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Deligradska 31a, Belgrade, Serbia
were intact. Other autopsy findings included generalized atherosclerosis and pancreatic atrophy. The autopsy findings were also suggestive of severe blood loss with paleness of all organs and mucosal surfaces. Death was attributed to hemorrhagic shock following injuries of the superficial blood vessels of both lower legs. There is also the possibility of air embolism contributing to the lethal episode. Toxicological analyses performed on peripheral femoral blood, urine and vitreous humor showed neither the presence of alcohol nor common drugs. Statements by the relatives and neighbors, the absence of any defense wounds on the body, and the presence of typical hesitation wounds on the lower legs along with old scars on the forearms indicating earlier suicide attempts, were in keeping with suicide.
Discussion Although the self-infliction of sharp force was a classical
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