Study to Evaluate Time of Death after Suicidal Poisoning as a Surrogate Indicator of Virulence of a Poison

Background: Mean time to virulence is a common indicator to judge the virulence of a poison in animal studies. In humans this type of study is not possible due to design challenges and ethical considerations. Aims & Objectives: In the present study, we tried to ascertain the value of time to death as a surrogate marker for virulence of a poison after taking into account the human factors responsible for self-harm. Methods: The present study is a prospective study, which was done in the department of forensic medicine, PDU Medical College and Hospital Rajkot, Gujarat. All the fatal poisoning cases referred to us for medicolegal autopsy (208 cases) were taken into the study and detailed and complete autopsy examination was done by routine instruments and methods. The exact types of poisons responsible in fatal cases were confirmed by cross checking with chemical analyzer’s report whenever possible. Results: We found interesting patterns and identified Aluminium phosphide the most fatal and important poison from a public health perspective. Conclusion: Based on the results of our study, we can say that availability of aluminium phosphide should be extremely restricted. ?