PLANNED COMPLEX SUICIDE - AN UNUSUAL SUICIDE BY HANGING AND GUNSHOT

We report a case of planned complex suicide (PCS) by a young man who h ad previously tried to commit suicide twice. He was found dead hanging by his neck, with a shot in his head. The investigation of the scene, the method employed, and previous attempts at suicide altogether poin ted toward a suicidal etiology. The main difference between PCS and th ose cases defined in the medicolegal literature as combined suicides l ies in the complex mechanism used by the victim as a protection agains t a failure in one of the mechanisms.