Any medical professionals out there? Death by peanut....?!
Question: Any medical professionals out there!? Death by peanut!.!.!.!.!?
A 50-year-old man is found dead in his home after a party; he was very drunk the night before!.
The actual cause of his death is anaphylaxis after accidentally eating peanuts, to which he has a severe allergy!.
My question is what indicators would there be to show how the man died!? Would it be obvious immediately or only upon autopsy!? And would a death like this be treated as suspicious at any point!?
I'm trying to find this out for a story I'm writing!. Thanks very much!Www@Answer-Health@Com
The actual cause of his death is anaphylaxis after accidentally eating peanuts, to which he has a severe allergy!.
My question is what indicators would there be to show how the man died!? Would it be obvious immediately or only upon autopsy!? And would a death like this be treated as suspicious at any point!?
I'm trying to find this out for a story I'm writing!. Thanks very much!Www@Answer-Health@Com
Answers:
Any unattended death requires a medical exam- autopsy - to try to determine the cause!. In this particular scenario, they would find bits of undigested peanuts in his stomach contents!. Given his history of peanut allergy, that would pretty well establish the cause of his death as heart failure due to anaphylaxic reaction to peanuts!. They would not think it suspicious since you usually eat something like a nut pretty voluntarily- especially in the natural form!. Finding the packet of them by the body would also be a pretty good giveaway!. I don't think anyone would have reason to be suspicious!. Well, they might suspect he did it deliberately, as in suicide, but without more evidence it would likely be written off as a drunk mistake!. But even at their most drunk, most folks remember to avoid things they are deadly allergic to!. To buy it as a suicide, there would likely have to be a note or threat voiced to somebody else!.Www@Answer-Health@Com
I am not a medical professional but work in the food service industry and we have training on this as anaphylaxis is one of the reasons behind washing hands and changing gloves when we move from one task to the next and being careful of what utensils we use in serving and preparing food!. Some of the indicators would be the stomach contents (peanuts), redness or swelling of the skin, and he also may have been wearing a medic alert bracelet or had an information card stating an allergy to peanuts!. He also might have had an Epi Pen in his pocket containing Epinepherine which is often administered when someone goes into anyphylactic shock!.
http://www!.medicinenet!.com/anaphylaxis/a!.!.!.Www@Answer-Health@Com
http://www!.medicinenet!.com/anaphylaxis/a!.!.!.Www@Answer-Health@Com