Fatalities in the bathtub

A retrospective analysis concerning deaths in the bathtub was carried out in the Institute of Legal Medicine in Hamburg. The study includes 245 death cases between 1971 and 1988 (1% of all autopsies). 66 cases proved to be natural deaths, 76 were classified as suicides, 39 as accidents and 13 as homicides; 51 fatalities remained unclear with respect to one of these groups. Among the natural deaths sudden cardiac deaths were dominating (n = 39), among the suicides the intoxications (n = 37) and electrocutions (n = 20), and among the accidents the intoxications by carbon monoxide (n = 17) and electrocutions (n = 12). Out of 13 homicides only 2 were committed directly in the bathtub: One by drowning of a child and one by electric current via a hair dryer; in the other cases the dead body was put into the bathtub post mortem. About 50% of the victims were alcoholized. Signs of drowning were present in about 40% of all cases; the most frequent finding was emphysema aquosum.