Hypoglycaemia: Accidents, violence and murder. Part 1

Abstract

Insulin has saved countless lives since its introduction for the treatment of diabetes; it has also destroyed a few through accidents or misuse. It invariably does this by causing hypoglycaemia which has more profound effects upon cognitive than on motor function. It can render a normally gentle, friendly and helpful person into a maniacal monster with no conception of right or wrong and capable of violent assault or manslaughter. Treatment of diabetes with insulin also leads to a two-fold increase in motoring accidents. Most of these are trivial but a minority are fatal. Examples of this and the use of insulin as a suicidal agent and the difficulty in separating it from factitious hypoglycaemia are described in the first of these two articles. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.