Death Certification of ‘‘Suicide by Cop’’

Neitzel, Amber Rae

dc.contributor.author	Neitzel, Amber Rae
dc.date.accessioned	2013-04-17T17:23:09Z
dc.date.available	2013-04-17T17:23:09Z
dc.date.issued	2013-03
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10150/281777
dc.description	A Thesis submitted to The University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Medicine.	en
dc.description.abstract	Death certification of ‘‘suicide by cop’’ is controversial among some medical examiners and coroners. We present five such deaths that were certified as suicides and discuss the medico-legal issues involved with these certifications. To certify such a death as a suicide, certain criteria should be met. Suicide by cop is a circumstance that involves competing intentional acts that may result in dichotomous determinations of the manner of death. Despite the absence of direct self-infliction, there is overwhelming evidence that these five individuals intended to end their own lives. Their use of an unusual method to accomplish this goal may inappropriately result in a reflexive certification of homicide. All of the decedents possessed weapons or a facsimile of a weapon. We present five instances of suicide by cop and contend that these types of deaths are best certified as suicides. KEYWORDS: forensic science, forensic pathology, suicide, police, gunshot wounds, manner of death
dc.language.iso	en_US	en
dc.publisher	The University of Arizona.	en_US
dc.rights	Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the College of Medicine - Phoenix, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.	en_US
dc.subject	Suicide by cop	en
dc.subject.mesh	Suicide	en
dc.subject.mesh	Wounds, Gunshot	en
dc.subject.mesh	Emergency Responders	en
dc.title	Death Certification of ‘‘Suicide by Cop’’	en_US
dc.type	text; Electronic Thesis	en
dc.contributor.department	The University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix	en
dc.description.collectioninformation	This item is part of the College of Medicine - Phoenix Scholarly Projects 2013 collection. For more information, contact the Phoenix Biomedical Campus Library at pbc-library@email.arizona.edu.	en_US
dc.contributor.mentor	Gill, James R.	en
refterms.dateFOA	2018-09-12T12:09:43Z
html.description.abstract	Death certification of ‘‘suicide by cop’’ is controversial among some medical examiners and coroners. We present five such deaths that were certified as suicides and discuss the medico-legal issues involved with these certifications. To certify such a death as a suicide, certain criteria should be met. Suicide by cop is a circumstance that involves competing intentional acts that may result in dichotomous determinations of the manner of death. Despite the absence of direct self-infliction, there is overwhelming evidence that these five individuals intended to end their own lives. Their use of an unusual method to accomplish this goal may inappropriately result in a reflexive certification of homicide. All of the decedents possessed weapons or a facsimile of a weapon. We present five instances of suicide by cop and contend that these types of deaths are best certified as suicides. KEYWORDS: forensic science, forensic pathology, suicide, police, gunshot wounds, manner of death