Hanging: Commonly Encountered by Forensic Experts at Autopsy

Though human lives have become easier and faster due to rapid twist in urbanization, industrialization and digitalization suicidal tendency among common people are often seen. Hanging is the commonly chosen method to do so. The study was designed to find out the pattern of hanging cases and to discover the immensity of hanging as a method of committing suicide. This retrospective study was done for three years by retrospectively collected data at the department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology of Chattogram Medical College. A total of 193 cases (6.73%) of hanging were observed among 2850 autopsies done from January 2015 to December 2017. The age group of 31-40 years was mostly affected i.e. in 54(27.97%) followed by 21-30 years 48(24.87%). Males 112(58.03%) out numbered the females 81(41.96%). Clothes 88(45.59%) were mostly used as ligature material followed by jute rope (33.67%) and nylon rope (20.72%). Maximum cases were atypical hanging 160(82.90%), while we observed 33 typical (17.09%) hangings. In 166 cases (86.01%) we observed no injuries to the neck while contusion of the neck in 27 cases (13.99%). This study revealed fracture of the thyroid cartilage in 5 cases (2.59%) and hyoid in 2 cases (1.03%). One hundred & eighty five (185) cases (95.85%) were of suicidal and only 8 cases (4.14%) were of accidental. As per observation of this study, hanging has been found to be a common means of committing suicide in Bangladesh.