Length of time a person can hang prior to death happening?

Question

A male friend of ours daughter stated that (A) she is bipolar (B) depressed (C) attempted hanging herself. She stated that she went to the basement and hung herself. A male friend of hers walked into her home and when he did not find her on the two main floors of the home, he went to the basement found her and cut her down. Need of no medical attention! I find this most difficult to believe. If she heard him upstairs and when he was walking downstairs she leaped would he be able to save her then either? But "hanging" how long can one hang prior to death. I always thought it was nearly immediately. Please anyone with sincere knowledge answer. And thanks

Answer 1

Suicidal hangings almost never involve a drop with a proper noose to cause separation/fracture of cervical spine.

Suicidal hangings are an asphyxial event, where the blood to the brain is shut off. Asphyxia is lack of oxygen to tissues, and not airway obstruction, although airway obstruction could achieve that end. Almost never in a hanging is the larynx or trachea injured in any way. It takes about 13 seconds to become unconscious, 4 minutes to die (be beyond medical help). If she hung for up to two minutes, she probably would have needed medical help for recovery.

In my opinion, she waited until she heard him not only in the house, but nearby before doing this. A rather dramatic suicide gesture. I hope that girl gets help.

Answer 2

The instant death you refer to is when the C1 & C2 neck bones which are fused together come apart, causing unconsciousness then death, find them at the top of the spine entering the skull. In UK law (past tense stopped in the 50's) the drop had to do this at an execution, but if you got it wrong - to short and the person would die slowly, loudly and be very conscious - to long, more than 6 feet and the head could be ripped off. Why bother if they are there for execution anyway? The prison guards are people to just doing a job of work. and must be protected to. Without this drop, and be aware you do not need to be off the ground to do a proper job, thirty or more people do it a year, the process can be painfully slow.

Heard of a case were a rock climber was caught in his rope and lasted 30 minutes or more while a rescue attempt was made, a fit young man who wanted to live. Hope this helps

Answer 3

Death is usually immediate if it's a drop hang, done properly (calculated weight of "hangee", right length of rope and knot in the right place to snap neck).

In some cases of public execution, if this was miscalculated it wasn't unheard of for the executioner to climb down the rope and stand on the victims shoulders to speed the process up. Contrary to popular belief, the executioners did pity those they were sending off.

You can hang yourself the "hard" way by simply, well, hanging without a drop, or more effectively by having a knot over an artery supplying blood to the brain in which case you'll be unconscious in about 15 seconds. It seems the way she used was the hard way, which starves the brain of oxygen before unconsciousness, you can go a few minutes (but not many) like that.

Answer 4

I guess it depends on the method used, whether the individual had drugs or alcohol in their system...my girlfriend came over from England in May and we stayed at a motel here in town and there was a young man who used nylon cord to hang himself..he tied one end to the towel rack behind the bathroom door and then ran it up over the door and then around his neck...it was awful...I will never forget how young he looked to me...his hands were purple from the blood flowing to them...she said when she first examined him that he had spit and it had solidified like an icicle...she is a nurse practitioner and wanted to attempt to bring him back but the police told us to leave over the phone so we left...we still think about it sometimes and wonder if we had gone in sooner or done something differently he might still be alive...I estimated he had been dead for about 45 minutes...she concurred in my analysis and we have just moved on really..

Answer 5

If the victim were to hang themselves in a violent rushed manner they would most likely break their neck immedietely. If they were to just as easliy as they could slide slowly into the noose and ease into their own weight they would be ok to hang there until they lost consiosness from lack of oxygen-- same as drowning or suffocation, you dont die instantly. Based on history she's probably lying for attention anyways

Answer 6

If the neck isn't broken upon the abrupt stop of the head as the body drops, the person must suffocate. This takes a long time.

Answer 7

I have been told that it is typically 21 minutes...but an amature hanging could cause a lingering death...assuming death occurs at all.

Answer 8

If your neck is not broken AND
your juglar vein blood supply is not stopped AND
your throat is open so you can still breathe
then you could hang there alive for a long time....

Answer 9

Unless the neck breaks, it can take up to a few minutes to asphyxiate.

Answer 10

1 minute