Observation of cases of hanging treated in medical wards.

We observed twenty cases of hanging over a period of six years of which 14 were males and six females. All were below fifty years of age. They used plastic ropes, jute ropes, dhotis, and sarees. Five of the females used sarees; suggesting that object used for ligature depends on accessibility to the object. All these cases happened in peridomestic areas like bath room, bed room, trees in the back yard. Similar observation has been made by others too. This is obvious that if cases of hanging have to be saved they have to be released within minutes and this is possible only when somebody is there around. This chance is not there if hanging is attempted in a lonely place.