Method overtness, forensic autopsy, and the evidentiary suicide note: A multilevel National Violent Death Reporting System analysis

Authors

Ian R. H. Rockett, West Virginia UniversityFollow
Eric D. Caine, University of Rochester
Steven Stack, Wayne State University
Hilary S. Connery, McLean Hospital & Harvard Medical School
Kurt B. Nolte, University of New Mexico
Christa L. Lilly, West Virginia University
Ted R. Miller, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation & Curtin University
Lewis S. Nelson, Rutgers University - Newark
Sandra L. Putnam, West Virginia University
Paul S. Nestadt, John Hopkins University
Haomiao Jia, Columbia University

Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4584-9337

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https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2479-703X

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Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2018

College/Unit

School of Medicine

Department/Program/Center

Medicine

Abstract

Objective

Higher prevalence of suicide notes could signify more conservatism in accounting and greater proneness to undercounting of suicide by method. We tested two hypotheses: (1) an evidentiary suicide note is more likely to accompany suicides by drug-intoxication and by other poisoning, as less violent and less forensically overt methods, than suicides by firearm and hanging/suffocation; and (2) performance of a forensic autopsy attenuates any observed association between overtness of method and the reported presence of a note.

Methods

This multilevel (individual/county), multivariable analysis employed a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM). Representing the 17 states participating in the United States National Violent Death Reporting System throughout 2011–2013, the study population comprised registered suicides, aged 15 years and older. Decedents totaled 32,151. The outcome mea- sure was relative odds of an authenticated suicide note

Results

An authenticated suicide note was documented in 31% of the suicide cases. Inspection of the full multivariable model showed a suicide note was more likely to manifest among drug intoxication (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 1.70; 95% CI, 1.56, 1.85) and other poisoning sui- cides (OR, 2.12; 1.85, 2.42) than firearm suicides, the referent. Respective excesses were larger when there was no autopsy or autopsy status was unknown (OR, 1.86; 95% CI, 1.61, 2.14) and (OR, 2.25; 95% CI, 1.86, 2.72) relative to the comparisons with a forensic autopsy (OR, 1.62, 95% CI, 1.45, 1.82 and OR, 2.01; 95% CI, 1.66, 2.43). Hanging/suffocation sui- cides did not differ from the firearm referent given an autopsy.

Conclusions

Suicide requires substantial affirmative evidence to establish manner of death, and affirma- tion of drug intoxication suicides appears to demand an especially high burden of proof. Findings and their implications argue for more stringent investigative standards, better train- ing, and more resources to support comprehensive and accurate case ascertainment, as the foundation for developing evidence-based suicide prevention initiatives.

Digital Commons Citation

Rockett, Ian R. H.; Caine, Eric D.; Stack, Steven; Connery, Hilary S.; Nolte, Kurt B.; Lilly, Christa L.; Miller, Ted R.; Nelson, Lewis S.; Putnam, Sandra L.; Nestadt, Paul S.; and Jia, Haomiao, "Method overtness, forensic autopsy, and the evidentiary suicide note: A multilevel National Violent Death Reporting System analysis" (2018). Faculty & Staff Scholarship. 1654.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/faculty_publications/1654

Source Citation

Rockett IRH, Caine ED, Stack S, Connery HS, Nolte KB, Lilly CL, et al. (2018) Method overtness, forensic autopsy, and the evidentiary suicide note: A multilevel National Violent Death Reporting System analysis. PLoS ONE 13(5): e0197805. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0197805

Comments

© 2018 Rockett et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.