I went into the mall a few days ago. I usually always go into the jewelry store to talk to one of the workers there who I have known for about a year. He wasn’t there when I asked for him. The manager pulled me aside and told me that he had died. I decided to ask, how? The manager told me that his family went to his home and found him dead in his bed with a plastic bag over his head. The plastic bag was just a normal plastic bag that the grocery store gives out.
My first question is this: Do you think he suffered much? I hope he didn’t.
My second question: How can a plastic bag do the job? I found out from another worker that he wasn’t taking any drugs and there was no alcohol present in his home at the time of his death. My only guess is that he inhaled so much Carbon Monoxide.
Honestly, a suicide really didn’t occur to me for some reason but I suppose it’s possible. I don’t really have enough information to come to a solid conclusion. Someone might have used the plastic bag to strangle him to death for all I know.
A big fear is one of the cats is going to lay in a plastic bag to nap and end up rolling /sealing itself in there (they love playing at the crinkly sound). I also fear for the safety of the Dudeling, but we only let him play with plastic bags that aren’t marked with a warning.
Plastic bag over head is used as a suicide method though it’s more commonly used as a secondary measure by people killing themselves with drug overdoses or by another method. The cause of death would be suffocation.
I’m not sure how difficult it would be to die accidentally, but I’m guessing what could happen is that the bag became sucked in to your windpipe forming an airtight seal that you couldn’t remove.
I’ve heard of people committing suicide with the use of a plastic bag, however they also used some time of gas. I wasn’t aware that someone could commit suicide with the just the use of a plastic bag. My guess that the only reason it works is because is if you do it when you go to sleep at night. If you get into a deep enough sleep you probably won’t wake up if you need air.
That was unfortunately my first thought as well. However, I have never heard of someone using a bag to do it. They usually strangle themselves with something like a belt while masturbating. The idea is to orgasm while almost but not quite strangled to death and then release the belt or whatever is used for the purpose. Sometimes they can’t get it released in time and pass out and die. We had a guy in college who didn’t return home over the Christmas break one year and that was reason for it.
This case may be a suicide or even an accident. Males do just plain stupid things when they are bored sometimes.
If the person seals the bag around their head with, say, a rubber band, then as long as they’re determined enough to keep it in place until the oxygen runs low, unconsciousness, then death will follow pretty certainly.
But the minute or two between putting on the bag and falling unconscious will probably be an unpleasant time - simple lack of oxygen causes people to fall unconscious without even realising it’s happening, but if you’re rebreathing the same air over and over, the level of Carbon Dioxide will build up and the body reacts to this with pain and panic (most people would probably rip off the bag at that point)
I honestly don’t know the details and didn’t want to pry. All I was told at the time was that his Internet search history revealed that he had been looking into suicide methods for quite some time - he had been in poor health and also very depressed.
Mrs. Devil often says that if I don’t watch what I say in public we’re going to get a nasty call from CPS.
For the record, no, we rarely let him play with plastic bags, he only has to sleep in the Basement of Woe when he really, *really *misbehaves, and his primary diet is a little broader than rat feet, spider eggs, and mould soup (well, on Thursdays it is). I’m sure there are a few other things out there that I’ve slightly exaggerated, but can’t recall them all.
Unless he did it in the garage with the car running, I think you meant Carbon Dioxide, the gas humans exhale.
Going by just your description it certainly sounds like suicide (auto-erotic usually involves self-strangulation, not asphyxiation). The plastic bag over the head is usually preceded by an overdose of some type of tranquilizer (i.e. sleeping pills).
Plastic bag over the head (usually in conjunction with drugs of some kind) was one suicide option suggested in Final Exit by Derek Humphry, so that is the first thing I thought of when I read your description.
Yep. There are plenty of asphyxiant gases that don’t leave you gasping for fresh air. Most homes have natural gas or propane coming into them for heat, hot water, clothes dryer, or stove/oven. If you don’t mind the smell of the oderant, this stuff will asphyxiate you just fine; thus the old meme of putting your head in an unlit gas oven to commit suicide. Helium works just as well, as does nitrogen. For my TIG welder, I have a couple of bottles of argon, which would also work: fill bag, exhale, slip bag over head, tape snugly to neck, lie down and start breathing.
Not likely. Ever try to fall asleep with heavy blankets drawn completely over your head? Doesn’t take long before you’re gasping for fresh air. As Mangetout notes, it’s possible to kill yourself this way, but you’ve got to be reaaaally stubborn. This manner of suicide was depicted in the following movie: