Asphyxial suicides by plastic bag suffocation : a review of 76 cases occurred in Milan, Italy

Introduction: death resulting from plastic bag asphyxia has been recognized for more than 40 years, but relatively little is known about its epidemiology. A study about plastic bag asphyxia was performed to explain some particular aspects. Materials and methods: in the Institute of Legal Medicine of Milan, 76 cases of plastic bag asphyxia have been selected from 1993 to 2008 on a total of 17591 postmortem analyses. Results and conclusions: plastic bag suffocation shows an incidence rate of 0.4% in the context of all the lesional ways occurred in the area of Milan. This confirms the unusual use of plastic bags as a tool used in suicides. Collected data were also characterized for sex, age, victims’ patholocial and psychical profile, necroscopic characteristics of lesions.