Medical Literature
Suicides using this method are well documented in the literature. In the study Asphyxial suicide with helium and a plastic bag (Ogden et al.), the authors described a case involving a 60-year-old woman with a diagnosis of adenoid cystic carcinoma. The woman died in September 2000, in South Carolina with help of a suicide bag and helium.
Cases using suicide bags and gases other than noble gases are recorded, such as a propane-butane mixture, and methane (natural gas).
A 2010 study in the Journal of Medical Ethics found that helium in a bag or hood caused death in a quick and painless manner, and could play a role in "demedicalising assisted suicide". A 2011 study found that in recent years information about suicide with helium and a bag has spread rapidly on the Internet, in print, and on video.
Read more about this topic: Suicide Bag
Famous quotes containing the words medical and/or literature:
“The greatest analgesic, soporific, stimulant, tranquilizer, narcotic, and to some extent even antibiotic—in short, the closest thing to a genuine panacea—known to medical science is work.”
—Thomas Szasz (b. 1920)
“The Irishman in English literature may be said to have been born with an apology in his mouth.”
—James Connolly (1870–1916)