Cold idiocy
Cold idiocy , also paradoxical undressing , is the forensic medical expression for a paradoxical behavior that a person who freezes to death can display . The affected person begins to undress, although his body is already severely hypothermic . This is because when it is very cold, the vessels in the extremities contract sharply to protect the organism and to transport the blood to the vital organs (this is why frostbite also occurs first on the hands, feet or nose). Shortly before death, the vessels widen again, and the blood rushes back into the hypothermic extremities. The affected person becomes warm and begins to sweat. The cold idiocy occurs when the core body temperature drops below 32 ° C. At this stage, someone who freezes to death is no longer able to help himself.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Information about death from cold on the website of forensic medicine at the University of Leipzig ( memento from June 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), archived at archive.org
- ↑ Prof. Dr. Michael Tsokos: On the trail of death . Twelve spectacular cases from forensic medicine. 1st edition. Ullstein Buchverlage GmbH, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-548-37262-4 , p. 106 .