Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34223995›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of legal medicine2021

An unusual suicide by self-waterboarding: forensic pathological issues.

Nicola Galante, Marco Terzi, Guendalina Gentile, Stefano Tambuzzi, Riccardo Zoja

Open access · hybridAbstract readCase Reports
In one paragraph

Article in International journal of legal medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
0.7field-weighted citation impact, top 29% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 7 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Nicola GalanteLaboratorio Di Istopatologia Forense e Microbiologia Medico LegaleSezione Di Medicina Legale E Delle Assicurazioni, Dipartimento Di Scienze Biomediche Per La Salute, Università Degli Studi Di Milano, Via Luigi Mangiagalli, 37, 20133, Milano, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5867-7856
Marco TerziLaboratorio Di Istopatologia Forense e Microbiologia Medico LegaleSezione Di Medicina Legale E Delle Assicurazioni, Dipartimento Di Scienze Biomediche Per La Salute, Università Degli Studi Di Milano, Via Luigi Mangiagalli, 37, 20133, Milano, Italy.
Guendalina GentileLaboratorio Di Istopatologia Forense e Microbiologia Medico LegaleSezione Di Medicina Legale E Delle Assicurazioni, Dipartimento Di Scienze Biomediche Per La Salute, Università Degli Studi Di Milano, Via Luigi Mangiagalli, 37, 20133, Milano, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4407-9844
Stefano TambuzziLaboratorio Di Istopatologia Forense e Microbiologia Medico LegaleSezione Di Medicina Legale E Delle Assicurazioni, Dipartimento Di Scienze Biomediche Per La Salute, Università Degli Studi Di Milano, Via Luigi Mangiagalli, 37, 20133, Milano, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4711-5545
Riccardo ZojaLaboratorio Di Istopatologia Forense e Microbiologia Medico LegaleSezione Di Medicina Legale E Delle Assicurazioni, Dipartimento Di Scienze Biomediche Per La Salute, Università Degli Studi Di Milano, Via Luigi Mangiagalli, 37, 20133, Milano, Italy. riccardo.zoia@unimi.it.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3347-2541
University of Milan · IT

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The authors present the first case, to the best of our knowledge, of a preplanned suicide by self-waterboarding. Waterboarding (WB) is a military method of torture in which water is poured into the nostrils and the mouth of a victim, to evoke the sensation of asphyxiation by drowning. The victim was a 22-year-old male student, who was found dead and naked in the bathtub. His head was covered by a soaked canvas bag, and his hands were tied with two nylon ropes and a padlock. The water jet of the showerhead was specifically directed at the victim's head, so that the canvas bag could be soaked with water. The cause of death was defined as the combination of asphyxiation by drowning with the direct suffocation provoked by the soaked canvas bag in the context of the waterboarding practice. Finally, the authors discuss the differential diagnosis regarding the modality (suicide versus homicide) through which this case of waterboarding was performed. The case is intended to be used as source data for similar forensic cases, where a multidisciplinary approach is advisable in such complex cases.

Indexed as

Forensic PathologySuicide, CompletedAsphyxiaDrowningHumansLungMaleYoung AdultAsphyxiaComplex suicideDrowningTieTortureWaterboarding

Identifiers

PMID34223995
PMCPMC8523495
OpenAlexW3177906837

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.