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Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

suspension

English answer:

hanging

Added to glossary by Z-Translations Translator
Jun 29, 2021 08:23
2 yrs ago
44 viewers *
English term

suspension

English Medical Medical (general) cause of death
Hello!

What is meant :

cause of death: *suspension*

How to understand the term *suspension*?

How did the person die?

Thank you very much in advance.
Responses
3 +2 Hanging
References
Suspension trauma
Change log

Jul 13, 2021 08:11: Z-Translations Translator Created KOG entry

Discussion

Daryo Jun 29, 2021:
@ mundele you say that "cause of death: *suspension*" is the Source Text.

Is your text the original text in EN, or it's already a translation from ...?

WHAT is the whole document? A death certificate? An obduction report? A line in some statistical table in some text about ...?

IN WHICH COUNTRY did this death occur? and WHEN - recently or it's some historical document?

I can't find ANY English speaking country that would still execute criminals by hanging, so "suspension = hanging" is not very likely.

Each country has its own coding system for "recording deaths", so if you know which country it is you know what is meant by "cause of death: suspension" IN THAT COUNTRY - that is a relevant information.

Recollections about the history of torture might be an interesting reading, but are here irrelevant.
BdiL Jun 29, 2021:
@Tania I agree with you. There are several ways of causing someone's death by hanging (or: suspension). And not necessarily because the circulation is blocked. In older times (but I'm afraid that's not entirely over even today) people would be hung (suspended) in iron cages and left to starve or they might be hung by the arms and, with or without flogging or torture, be likewise led to starvation (death from lack of food). The suspension could be in a reverse fashion, by the feet, head down or to a hook (often through the mandible, which also caused bleeding). However the terrible procedure called hanging (of which suspension is a synonym) is 99.99% what is meant here. Notice that it would involve a device we usually call gallows (two upright posts joined by a cross beam, though we usually think of a gamma-shaped post with an arm, called gibbet) and a rope noose to which people are hung [though in this acception the preferred expression is "are hanged"]. A "less" lengthy and torturous means of suspension uses a trapdoor (hatch) through which the body (fastened at the neck by the noose) is let to fall: the sudden stop causes breaking of the neck and death. Sad. Maurizio
Tania McConaghy Jun 29, 2021:
more info? The suggested term "hanging" is quite likely however it might not refer to a noose around the neck, it could refer to someone being stuck in a harness or similar for a long period and passing due to blocked circulation.

Responses

+2
14 mins
Selected

Hanging

Hanging causes Asphyxia i.e. suffocation = death

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Note added at 38 mins (2021-06-29 09:01:49 GMT)
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"Hanging is that form of violent asphyxial deaths, which is caused by the suspension of the body by a ligature which encircles the neck, the constricting force being the weight of the body."
https://medicoapps.org/m-hanging-introductionclassification-...
Peer comment(s):
agree BdiL : Please see my above consideration. (I add that even crucifixion could be considered a modified way of execution by hanging or suspension, as you please.) Maurizio
1 hr
Very informative. Thanks a lot Maurizio !
neutral Daryo : in all fairness this pure guess shouldn't warrant more than CL1.
4 hrs
agree philgoddard : Seems a reasonable guess to me, though 'suspension ' is an unusual choice of word.
8 hrs
Thanks a lot !
neutral Yvonne Gallagher : More context needed. Seems like a very strange, and vague, way of phrasing "cause of death"
1 day 3 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."

Reference comments

4 hrs
Reference:

Suspension trauma

Suspension trauma (Syn. "orthostatic shock while suspended"), also known as harness hang syndrome (HHS), suspension syndrome, or orthostatic intolerance, is an effect which occurs when the human body is held upright without any movement for a period of time. If the person is strapped into a harness or tied to an upright object they will eventually suffer the central ischaemic response (commonly known as fainting). Fainting while remaining vertical increases the risk of death from cerebral hypoxia.[1] Since there is no evidence that these effects are specifically due to trauma, or caused by the harness itself, climbing medicine authorities have argued against the terminology of suspension trauma or harness hang syndrome and instead termed this simply "suspension syndrome".[2]

People at risk of suspension trauma include people using industrial harnesses (fall arrest systems, abseiling systems, confined space systems), people using harnesses for sporting purposes (caving, climbing, parachuting, etc.), stunt performers, circus performers, and occupations that require the use of harnesses and suspension systems in general. Suspension shock can also occur in medical environments, for similar reasons.[citation needed]

In the UK the term "suspension trauma" has been replaced by "syncope" or "pre-syncope" as "trauma" suggests that there has been a physical injury that has resulted in the fallen person becoming unconscious. In the circumstances where a person has fallen into suspension on a rope/lanyard and has become unconscious, it is thought that the unconscious state "syncope" is due to a combination of orthostasis or motionless vertical suspension, with "pre-syncope" being the state before the person becomes unconscious where the fallen person may experience symptoms such as light-headedness; nausea; sensations of flushing; tingling or numbness of the arms or legs; anxiety; visual disturbance; or faintness. HSE Research Report RR708 2009 1 Introduction page 5 paragraphs 1 and 3 refers.
...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspension_trauma
Peer comments on this reference comment:
neutral Yvonne Gallagher : "suspension" has many possible meanings, including this
22 hrs
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