[Late fatality after CO poisoning]

The report involves a 57-year-old man who was released from in-patient treatment relatively free of complaints 3 days after an attempted suicide with carbon monoxide. After a trouble-free interval, however, more and more organic brain symptoms accompanied by spasms appeared. In the end, the patient died 2 months later of an intermittent fulminating terminal embolism of the pulmonary artery with a thrombosis in the veins of the lower extremities. The clinical course and the anatomicopathological findings are discussed from the pathophysiological point of view. The question of a causal relationship between the "attempted suicide and lethal outcome" had to be answered in the affirmative as regards the insurance law aspects.