Lessons from a suicide attempt by intra-abdominal ricin injection

A 19-year-old woman was admitted to the emergency department 7 hours after a suicide attempt with an intra-abdominal injection of self-prepared ricin solution. In the following 6 days, she has developed multiorgan-failure, and despite all intensive care interventions-including plasma exchange, high-frequency ventilation, and continuous renal replacement -therapy-she passed away. We describe in detail the chain of events and discuss shortly the known literature about this rare poisoning.