Gabriela Kanclerz

The study aims to compare suicide poisoning and poisons used to commit suicide in the 1930s and today. The focus is on autopsy protocols from 1930–1939 and 2010–2019 collected at the Forensic Medicine Institute in Krakow. In the years 1930–1939, there were 184 cases, 65 of which were among men and 119 among women. The most common poisons were corrosives, accounting for 69 cases, 43 were carbon monoxide, 24 were drugs and narcotics, 17 were heavy metals, and the remaining 31 were other substances. Of the 138 suicide poisonings in modern times, 96 were committed by men and 42 by women. The most common poisoning was multi-drug poisoning – 62 cases. Opioids, benzodiazepines, neuroleptics and antidepressants were the most frequently chosen substances today. Fatal intoxications with drugs/new psychoactive substances (NCAs) were observed in 28 cases, while other substances were used in the remaining 17. The conducted analysis showed a significant decrease in suicidal poisoning with the use of corrosive substances and gases, while the percentage of drug overdoses is systematically growing. Poisons used for suicide purposes in the 1930s left macroscopic changes that could be instantly noticed during the autopsy. The fact that drugs that are currently used most often do not leave such changes may justify the dynamic development of forensic toxicology.

Aim: Analysis of different methods of performing illegal abortions and causes of death in women who underwent the procedure during the interwar period.

Material and methods: The study was based on the autopsy protocols from 1920-1939 archived at the Department of Forensic Medicine, Jagiellonian University Collegium Medicum in Krakow, Poland. The analysis comprised the deaths of women during pregnancy or in the perinatal period. The cases in which abortion was performed legally, for medical indications, were excluded.

Results: A total of 101 cases of illegal abortion were identified during the period studied, including 21 abortions performed by midwives, and three abortions carried out by qualified medical personnel. In 19 cases, abortion was done using a catheter or wire, while in eight cases the procedure was performed by injecting an abortion-inducing substance into the uterus or administering an injection into the foetus. Vaginal or uterine injury (27 cases), or vaginal or uterine wall perforation (10 cases), were the most common genital tract lesions indicative of abortion.

Conclusions: The majority of deaths (71) were caused by peritonitis or sepsis originating from an infection involving the genital tract.