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We present an unusual case of suicide by intraperitoneal injection of pentobarbital, an overdose of zolpidem and the intake of diazepam, ethanol and other psychoactive substances. The autopsy and specimen collection were conducted in a 10 to 18 h postmortem interval. The toxicological analysis revealed a significantly higher pentobarbital concentration in femoral blood compared to cardiac blood (36 vs. 15 mg/L). On the contrary, zolpidem and diazepam concentrations in cardiac blood (2700 and 590 µg/L) were found to be significantly higher than in femoral blood (1500 and 230 µg/L). These findings point to a postmortem redistribution with a distinct gradient from areas of high drug concentrations in the gastrointestinal tract (zolpidem and diazepam) and the injection site (pentobarbital) to peripheral tissue. Ethanol concentration was 0.95 ‰ which amplified the CNS depression. The choice of this unusual suicide method was associated with the deceased's former job as a veterinarian's assistant. In veterinary medicine, the intraperitoneal injection of a lethal dose of pentobarbital is quite commonly performed to euthanise small animals. Intraperitoneal injection is rare as route of administration in humans.

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Child abuse may result in dramatic short and longtime damage of children's physical and emotional well being. This underscores the clinician's special responsibility to contribute a sound professional and scientific approach to the multiprofessional diagnosis and intervention in suspected child abuse cases. The approach is to correlate the probability of a given finding with the history and comparing it to biomechanical principles. Of concern are especially all serious injuries with an alleged trivial or inadequate for age mechanism, missing, vague or changing patterns of explanation, injuries of different age, delay of medical care and allegations by independent observers or even the child. Exact documentation of all medical examinations is the basis of any forensic expertise if child abuse is to be considered. This paper ist dealing with morhological findings following various kinds of violence which can often be observed in connection with child abuse, as well as the interpretation of characteristic patterns of findings. Furthermore, practicable procedures after diagnosing child abuse ar being discussed on the basis of legal terms.