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Asphyxial Deaths

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Abstract

Chapter 15 provides an overview of asphyxial deaths, those deaths related to lack of adequate tissue oxygenation. Several different types of asphyxia are encountered. Suffocation includes several subcategories, including simple (environmental) asphyxia, smothering (external airway obstruction), choking (internal airway obstruction), mechanical (traumatic) asphyxia, and positional asphyxia. Asphyxia from neck compression (strangulation) can result from a variety of mechanisms, including hanging, manual strangulation, and ligature strangulation. Several toxins can cause chemical asphyxia, most notably carbon monoxide and cyanide. Each of the above types of asphyxia are presented, followed by a section dealing with miscellaneous topics, including autoerotic asphyxia, the choking game, and restraint asphyxia.

So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself. Matthew 27:5

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Correspondence to Joseph Prahlow .

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© 2010 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

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Prahlow, J. (2010). Asphyxial Deaths. In: Forensic Pathology for Police, Death Investigators, Attorneys, and Forensic Scientists. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-404-9_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-404-9_15

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-58829-975-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59745-404-9

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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