Two Consecutive Deaths from Choking Asphyxia

Park, Moon Il; Kim, Youn Shin

Abstract

Choking is a type of asphyxia caused by obstruction within the air passages. Two old men died consecutively in a rural community party while enjoying raw beef and drinks. The time interval between the two deaths was about 3 hours. A lump of raw beef obstructing the laryngeal inlet was found in both cases accompanying conjunctival petechiae, heart blood liquidity and congested internal solid organs. The first victim had moderate to severe degrees of coronary atherosclerosis and fatty liver with the blood alcohol level 0.251% and the second one showed liver cirrhosis and the same coronary lesion with the blood alcohol level 0.175%. It is interesting but uncommon to see the circumstance that accidental choking asphyxias with raw beef occur within a few hours in the same place.