Disease-knowledge-related suicide by cutting subclavian catheters in a woman undergoing haemodialysis: case report and review of the literature

Patients undergoing haemodialysis have a higher incidence of depression and a higher suicidal rate than general population. In this report we present the case of a 49-year-old woman with a history of chronic renal insufficiency and subclavian catheters for haemodialysis, who was suffering from depression and alcohol abuse. She was found unconscious on her bed by her father, with profuse bleeding from the cut ends of the two catheters. After ruling out air embolism, the cause of death was ascribed to acute haemorrhage, whereas the manner of death was consistent with a suicide. This paper highlights the easier access to some peculiar suicide methods that some subjects can have due to their knowledge about their pathological conditions and/or the treatments they undergo, otherwise not available in the general population. Because of this particular feature, such self-suppressions can be termed “disease-knowledge-related” or “medical-knowledge-related” suicide.