Dangers of detergent suicide

Detergent suicides are gaining popularity in the US after getting their start in Japan a few years ago (that's when we first started hearing about them). Unfortunately, as they gain popularity, emergency responders have a new level of danger that we need to be on the look out for. What's even more problematic is that we are not always aware of this danger until it is too late.

So, just how prevalent is this? Honestly, I do not have any figures or data to show how frequent these are becoming. With that said, this is something that as I searched Google for stories about detergent suicides. I turned up several articles very quickly about where and when this has occurred. I found a story of a man in Pennsylvania who used this method of suicide earlier this month and one that occurred in Florida in March earlier this year.

There are also articles about detergent suicides that are readily available that provide the "recipe" for creating this disaster. Ethically (and morally), I am unable to provide this "recipe" for you, nor will I provide a link to it. However, if you really want it, you can easily find it. When I did a search, the first few results were, on the whole, about how to commit suicide using this method, and not about the lives that have been lost as a result of people believing this is a way out.

There have been a few of these in my response area -- 2 that I can recall with the most recent that I am aware of being only 6 months ago. So, the question becomes "how can we protect ourselves?"

For starters, you need to be aware of the locations which this type of suicide usually occurs. Most often, it is done in some vehicle -- but it needs to be in a relatively small and enclosed space.


Also, you should know how this stuff works. In a "detergent suicide," the deadly gas that is formed from the mixing of these chemicals is hydrogen sulfide. It does not take much of this to cause respiratory damage, brain damage or death. This is a colorless gas that has the odor of rotten eggs -- however, this substance numbs your olfactory bulbs (nose) and you will (very quickly) lose the ability to smell the gas. Simply put, it's deadly. Don't go near it.

Here's the scenario: Dispatch tells you that you have an unconscious person in a car parked (use your imagination as to where). You get there and someone is slumped over the steering wheel. What should your first action be?
a) get in the car as fast as possible -- somebody's dying in there!
b) do a really good scene size-up -- look in the car to see if there is anything that looks suspicious (i.e.: big 5 gallon buckets, hazmat signs on the windows, etc)

Hopefully you understand that the correct answer choice is "B". You don't want to open that car door, particularly if there is ominous signs of a detergent suicide that is taking place. You will be the next patient. By the time you get to the one in the car, it will, in all likelihood, be too late.

When some of these people have decided that life is no longer worth living and think that this is the way out, they have posted signs on the car windows saying "Call HazMat" and other such warnings. I appreciate this greatly. If you don't want to live, that's one thing -- but I have a family that wants me to come home every night, safe and sound. I go to work to help people. In doing so, I try to protect myself and that becomes difficult with unseen hazards like a colorless gas in an enclosed area that I can't smell until it's too late.

With that in mind, any public safety people should be on the look out for this and, above all, protect yourself and coworkers first. If you get hurt, you can't help your patient.