Suicidal self-stabbing: A report of 12 cases from Crete, Greece

IPPASOS: The first digital forensic information system in Greece

OBJECTIVE

This article describes the first digital clinical information system tailored to support the operational needs of a forensic unit in Greece and to maintain its archives.

METHOD

The development of our system was initiated towards the end of 2018, as a close collaboration between the Medical School of the University of Crete and the Forensic Medicine Unit of the University Hospital of Heraklion, Crete, where forensic pathologists assumed active roles during the specification and testing of the system.

RESULTS

The final prototype of the system was able to manage the life cycle of any forensic case by allowing users to create new records, assign them to forensic pathologists, upload reports, multimedia and any required files; mark the end of processing, issue certificates or appropriate legal documents, produce reports and generate statistics. For the first 4 years of digitised data (2017-2021), the system recorded 2936 forensic examinations categorised as 106 crime scene investigations, 259 external examinations, 912 autopsies, 102 post-mortem CT examinations, 804 histological examinations, 116 clinical examinations, 12 anthropological examinations and 625 embalmings.

CONCLUSION

This research represents the first systematic effort to record forensic cases through a digital clinical information system in Greece, and to demonstrate its effectiveness, daily usability and vast potential for data extraction and for future research.

The manner of death in a case with two stab wounds caused by two weapons: case report

Background

Stabbing is a relatively uncommon method of suicide. Typical suicide is usually associated with tentative wounds. Self-stabbing using two sharp weapons to produce two stab wounds without tentative marks is an uncommon incidence.

Case presentation

A 42-year-old Austronesian descent male with a history of family troubles was found dead by his friend inside a clothing store; two kitchen knives were present on both sides of the body. There were two stab wounds in the chest and the abdomen without any superficial hesitation cuts. At the crime scene, there were two blood pools.

Conclusion

The number of injuries with the absence of hesitation injuries raised suspicions of an atypical case of suicide that necessitated further forensic investigations. However, the circumstantial evidence and autopsy findings demonstrated that suicide was the cause of death.

Self-immolation Suicide in Greece: A Forensic Psychiatric Autopsy Study between 2011 and 2019

Self-immolation is a rare suicide method in the developed countries of the western world (0.06-1%); however, it has relatively higher prevalence rates in the developing countries of Asia and Africa (6-57%). The present study aims to examine self-immolation suicides within the Greek mainland (Attiki, Thrace, and Peloponnese) over a period of 9 years (2011-2019) in order to investigate the phenomenon in the Greek population forensically, identify the characteristics and motivations of suicide victims, explore its associations to socio-cultural or psychiatric factors, and describe a fatal case of suicide by self-immolation that was partially recorded on camera. The medical files (autopsy reports) of cases performed at the Departments of Forensic Medicine of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Democritus University of Thrace, and the Forensic Service of Messinia-Peloponnese were retrospectively examined yielding 19 cases of suicides by self-immolation. A 3.7% prevalence of suicide by self-immolation among suicide fatalities within the Greek population was estimated. A distinctive feature of the Greek population regarding self-immolation was disclosed that it is being practiced predominantly by the elderly (mean age 2-3.5 decades higher than other countries). The phenomenon correlated strongly with poorly controlled mental disorders (mostly affective and adjustment disorders). Unlike other countries, there was no significant association with domestic or sexual violence, social or political protest, or religious issues. Therefore, the suicide victims preferred secluded or private outdoor locations (not public). Findings deriving from the examined variables localize Greek population culturally between the Western European and Asian African countries, but with its own idiosyncrasies.