Combined suicide in the period 1997-2006

All autopsy cases of the Institutes of Legal Medicine of the Humboldt-Universitat of Berlin and the Freie Universitat of Berlin regarding the frequency and phenomenology of combined suicide in the decade 1997-2006 were analyzed retrospectively. A total of 9,821 autopsy protocols were available for analysis and included 2,273 suicides. In 173 cases (115 male and 58 female) 2 or more suicide methods had been used in combination. In the majority of cases (n = 164) 2 methods were combined and 3 methods (n = 7) were used in only a few cases while 4 and in another case 5 methods were each applied in only 1 case. The mean age of the deceased was 43 years in males and 59 years in females. Most of the suicides (n = 98) occurred indoors while the incident was located outdoors in 75 cases. The combination of poisoning with another method was most commonly used (fall from a height: n = 25, drowning: n = 22, hanging: n = 14). In 149 cases a history of mental disorders was retrospectively present.