Chapter VII

Special Deaths
Muñoz
I. Judicial Death

Modern methods in the execution of death sentences have abandoned the

inhuman, cruel and barbarous means. The statutes of all countries state the legal
procedure for the execution of death penalties. Under the 1987 Constitution of the
Republic of the Philippines:
Art. III, Sec. 19: Excessive fines shall not be imposed, nor cruel, degrading or
inhuman punishment inflicted. Neither shall death penalty be imposed, unless,
for compelling reasons involving heinous crimes, the Congress hereafter
provides for it. Any death penalty already imposed shall be reduced to reclusion
perpetua.
The purpose of the guaranty by the constitution is to eliminate many inhumane and
uncivilized punishments formerly known, the infliction of which tend to barbarize
present civilization.
A. Death Penalty
a. Pros
 It is the only method of eliminating the hopeless enemy of
society
 It deters potential criminals as no other form of punishment
does.
 Its brutalizing effect is an unproven assumption.
 It is the only means whereby society is relieved of the support
for those who continually war upon it.
 It is a positive selective agency to wipe out the stock of
irreformable criminals
b. Cons
 It is the only method of eliminating the hopeless enemy of
society
 It deters potential criminals as no other form of punishment
does.
 Its brutalizing effect is an unproven assumption.
 It is the only means whereby society is relieved of the support
for those who continually war upon it.
 It is a positive selective agency to wipe out the stock of
irreformable criminals
B. Methods of Judicial Death
a. Death by Electrocution
 A person is made to sit on a chair made of electrical conducting
materials with straps of electrodes on both wrists, ankles, and
head. An alternating current voltage of more than 1,500 volts is
put on until the convict dies.
 Death by Electrocution was the only method recognized by our
Civil Law.
  Death may be due to shock; respiratory failure due to bulbar
paralysis or asphyxia; and due to prolong and violent
convulsion.
b. Death by Hanging
 The convict is made to stand in an elevated collapsible platform
with a black hood on the head, a noose made of rope around
the neck and the other end of which is fixed in an elevated
structure above the head.
 Without the knowledge of the convict, the platform suddenly
collapses which causes the sudden suspension of the body and
tightening of the noose around the neck.
 Death may be due to asphyxia or injury of the cervical portion of
the spinal cord.
 In the Philippines, this method of death execution is only allowed
on death penalties imposed by military tribunals or court
marshals.
c. Death by Musketry
 The convict is made to face a firing squad and is put to death by
a volley of fire.
 This method of execution of death penalty is applied to military
personnel and decided by the court marshals.
d. Death by Gas Chamber
 The convict is enclosed in a compartment and an obnoxious or
asphyxiating gas is introduced.
 The most common gas used is carbon monoxide.
 The convict will not be removed from the gas chamber unless he
is pronounced dead by the penitentiary physician.
II. Euthanasia

Euthanasia or "mercy killing" is the deliberate and painless acceleration of death

of a person usually suffering from an incurable and distressing disease. In the
Philippines there is no law dealing specifically with the matter
A. Types of Euthanasia
a. Active Euthanasia
 Intentional or deliberate application of the means to shorten the
life of a person.
 It may be done with or without the consent or knowledge of the
person.
b. Passive Euthanasia
 There is absence of the application of the means to accelerate
death but the natural course of the disease is allowed to have its
way to extinguish the life of a person.
B. Ways of Performing Euthanasia
a. Administration of a lethal dose of poison.
b. Overdose of sedatives, hypnotics or other pain relieving drugs.
c. Injection of air into the blood stream.
 d. Application of strong electric currents.
e. Failure to institute the necessary management procedure which is
essential to preserve the life of the patient.
f. Failure to perform tracheostomy when there is marked distress in
breathing due to laryngeal obstruction.
g. Failure to give transfusion in severe hemorrhage.
h. Depriving the child of nutrition.
i. Removal of patient from a respirator when voluntary breathing is not
possible.
C. Who may Perform Euthanasia
a. The patient himself
b. The physician, with or without the knowledge and consent of the
patient.
 Art. 253, Revised Penal Code — Giving assistance to suicide —
Any person who shall assist another to commit suicide shall
suffer the penalty of prision mayor; if such person lends his
assistance to another to the extent of doing the killing himself,
he shall suffer the penalty of reclusion temporal. However, if the
suicide is not consummated, the penalty of arresto mayor in its
medium and maximum periods shall be imposed.
 If a physician assists a person in the commission of
suicide (by giving him a lethal dose of poison, for
example) without actually administering it.
 If poison was administered by the physician to the patient
without the knowledge and consent of the patient, then it
is murder.
D. Suicide
Suicide or self-destruction is usually the unfortunate consequence of
mental illness and social disorganization.
a. Psychological Classifications of Suicide
 First degree — deliberate, planned, premeditated, self-murder.
 Second degree — impulsive, unplanned, under great
provocation or mitigating circumstances.
 Third degree —This occurs when a person puts his or her life
into jeopardy by voluntary self-injury, but where we infer that the
intention to die was relatively low because the method of self-
injury was relatively harmless, or because provisions for rescue
were made.
 Suicide under circumstances which suggest a lack of capacity
for intention (Psychotic or Highly Intoxicated)
 Self-destruction due to self-negligence
 Justifiable suicide
b. Common methods for committing suicide
 Drugs and poison
 Hanging.
 Firearm.
  Jumping from a height.
 Drowning.
 Cutting and stabbing.
 Suffocation by plastic bag.
 Electrocution.
c. Evidence that will infer that death is suicidal
 History of depression, unresolved personal problem, or mental
disease;
 Previous attempt of self-destruction;
 If committed by infliction of physical injuries, the wounds are
located in areas accessible to the hand, vital parts of the body
and usually solitary.
 The effects of the act of self-destruction may be found in the
body of the victim:
 Hand may be blood-stained if suicide was done by
inflicting wound;
 Wounding hand may be positive to paraffin test in
gunshot. The wound of entrance may show manifestation
of a contact or near shot.
 Empty bottle or container of poison may be present at the
suicide scene;
 Absence of signs of struggle; or
 Cadaveric spasm present in the wounding hand holding
the weapon.
 Presence of suicide note;
 Suicide scene in a place not susceptible to public view, and
 Evidences that will rule out homicide, murder, parricide, and
other manner of violent death.
III. Death by Starvation
Starvation or inanition is the deprivation of a regular and constant supply of food
and water which is necessary to normal health of a person.
A. Types of Starvation
a. Acute Starvation
 When the necessary food has been suddenly and completely
withheld from a person.
b. Chronic Starvation
 When there is a gradual or deficient supply of food.
B. Causes of Starvation
a. Suicidal
 People deprived of liberty or prisoners may go in a "hunger strike"
to create sympathy.
 Excessive desire to lose weight.
 Lunatics during depressive state.
 As an expression of political dissent.
b. Homicidal
  Deliberate deprival of food for helpless illegitimate children,
feeble-minded and old persons.
 Punishment or act of revenge by deliberate incarceration in an
enclosed place without food m water.
c. Accidental
 Scarcity of food or water during famines or draught.
 Shipwreck, entombment of miners caused by landslides,
marooned sailors, or fall in a pit.
C. Length of Survival
 The human body without food loses l/24th of its weight daily, and a
loss of 40% of the weight results to death.
 The length of survival depends upon the presence or absence of
water.
 Without food and water, a person cannot survive more than 10 days,
but with water a person may survive without food for 50 to 60 days.
a. Factors that influence Survival
 Age
 Children suffer earlier from the effects of starvation than
old aged people. A child demand more food for growth and
development. Assimilation and utilization of food elements
is slowed and weakened in old age.
 Condition of the Body
 During starvation, fat stored up in the body is the one
utilized to maintain life. It is but natural that a healthy
person with more fat deposit can resist more deprival of
food.
 Sex
 Women can withstand starvation longer because they
have relatively more adipose tissues than men.
 Environment
 Exposure to higher temperature will accelerate death.
Suitable clothing will delay death. Active physical exertion
will hasten death. Severe cold will also hasten death.
D. Symptoms
a. Acute feeling of hunger for the first 30 to 48 hours and this is succeeded
by localization of the pain at the epigastrium which can be relieved by
pressure.
b. A feeling of extreme thirst.
c. The face is pale and cadaverous.
d. Four or five days later, there is a general emaciation and absorption of
the subcutaneous fat.
e. The eyes are sunken, glistening dilated pupils and with anxious
expression.
f. The lips and tongue are dry and with cracks, while the breath is foul and
offensive.
g. The voice becomes weak, faint and inaudible.
 h. The skin is dry, rough, wrinkled and emitting a peculiar disagreeable
odor.
i. The pulse is weak and the temperature is subnormal.
j. The abdomen is sunken and the extremities are thin, flaccid with marked
loss of muscular power.
k. The intellect may remain for some time, later becomes delirious and
convulsion or coma appears before death.
l. Symptoms of secondary infection may later appear on account of the
weakened resistance of the body.
E. Cause of Death
a. Inanition
b. Circulatory failure due to brown atrophy of the heart
c. Intercurrent infection
F. Post-Mortem Findings
a. External Findings
 Body greatly emaciated and emitting a peculiar offensive odor.
 The eyes are dry, red and open with the eyeballs sunken.
 The skin is dry, shriveled and sometimes with secondary skin
infection.
 Bed sores may be present.
b. Internal Findings
 The muscles are pale, soft, wasted with the subcutaneous fat
almost completely disappeared.
 There is a general reduction in the size and weight of all organs,
except the brain.
 The brain is pale and soft, while meningeal vessels are congested
and frequently, there is a serious effusion in the ventricle.
 The heart is small, with flabby and pale muscles and generally
empty chambers (brown atrophy).
 The lungs are edematous with hypostatic congestion.
 The stomach is small, contracted and empty with the mucous
membrane less stained with bile.
 The intestine is thin, empty, with its thin and translucent wall and
with the disappearance of the mucosal folds.
 There may be superficial or extensive ulceration of the colon as
in ulcerative colitis.
 The liver, spleen, kidneys and pancreas are small and shrunken.
 The gall bladder is distended with bile while the urinary bladder is
empty
 There is demineralization of bones and in pregnant women, it may
produce Osteomalacia.
 Findings refer to concomitant disease which may develop on
account of the diminished resistance.
G. Medico Legal Questions in Death due to Starvation
a. Determination whether death was caused by starvation
  It is necessary to examine carefully the internal organs and to
search for the existence of any disease which may possibly be
the cause of death. Some diseases may also lead to pathological
emaciation, like malignant disease, tuberculosis, diabetes
mellitus, anemia and chronic diarrhea. Absence of any disease
which may cause severe emaciation and the presence of a cause
for the deprivation of food are the basis for the diagnosis of death
by starvation.
b. Determination of the cause of Starvation
 Starvation may be suicidal, homicidal or accidental. The condition
of the surroundings, history and previous life of the victim and his
mental condition before he starved must be taken into
consideration in the determination of the cause.