Helium suicide – A suffocation or a barotrauma?. (November 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Smędra, Anna; Łabętowicz, Piotr; Wochna, Katarzyna; Berent, Jarosław
• Is Part Of: Journal of forensic and legal medicine. Volume 76(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-11
• Subjects: Suicide -- Noble gases -- Helium -- Barotrauma -- Lungs; Medical jurisprudence -- Periodicals; Forensic sciences -- Periodicals; Forensic Medicine -- Periodicals; Médecine légale -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 614.1
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jflm.2020.102065
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1752-928X

Abstract

Abstract: Helium is a chemically inert gas present in atmospheric air that is used in various branches of industry and in medicine. In the case of its improper use, various complications may occur, affecting mainly the respiratory tract and, in extreme cases, even result in death. Helium has also been used for committing suicide. Helium suicide is a method that does not leave characteristic macro- and microscopic post-mortem changes. A large amount of information on how to commit suicide with the use of helium can be found on the internet, which contributes to the popularization of this method in the world. In the case of incompetent use of the equipment theoretically dedicated to such suicide, death may occur not because of the suffocation, which is the most common mechanism in such cases, but because of a pressure injury of the respiratory tract, resulting in rapid damage to the alveoli in the rupture mechanism, causing massive bleeding. Helium dissipates quickly in the ambient air, and usually, its presence cannot be detected either in the blood or in the tissues. Thus, even if the material for toxicological tests is handled properly, detection of the presence of helium in a relatively short period of time after death is usually impossible or very difficult. If death due to inert gas inhalation is suspected during an autopsy, samples of biological material can be collected to be tested later by gas chromatography combined with mass spectrometry (GC-MS), but the results of the investigations are usually not helpful from the point of view of a forensic pathologist. Highlights: Case of helium suicide. Distinction between suffocation and barotrauma. Unusual cause of death – pulmonary pressure injury. Unusual mechanism of death – acute pulmonary emphysema.