Fatal Water Intoxication in a Schizophrenic Patient.

Kim, Younghye; Park, Sohyung; Ha, Hongil; Lee, Bong Woo

Case Report

Korean Journal of Legal Medicine 2010;34(1):47-50.
Published online May 31, 2010.

Fatal Water Intoxication in a Schizophrenic Patient.

Younghye Kim, Sohyung Park, Hongil Ha, Bong Woo Lee

¹Department of Pathology, Korea University Medical College, Guro Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
²Division of Forensic Medicine, National Institute of Scientific Investigation, Seoul, Korea. sanchee@korea.kr

Abstract

We report a case of fatal water intoxication in a schizophrenic patient. A 41-year-old schizophrenic male, who was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, was found dead in the restroom of the hospital. He had drunk many bowls of tap water before. On the postmortem examination, the brain was diffusely edematous, but no apparent herniation was noted. The lung was mildly expanded with edema. The stomach and intestine were diffusely expanded, and the intestine and mesentery were extensively edematous. Bilateral hydronephrosis was observed. A subcapsular hematoma with focal cortical rupture was observed in the right kidney. The vitreous sodium was 102 mEq/l and potassium was 10.5 mEq/l.

Key Words: schizophenia, water intoxication, subcapsular hematoma