Original Article Faith healers, myths and deaths Harihar Wasti 1 , Tanuj Kanchan 2 and Jenash Acharya 3 Abstract Science and myth have been closely linked and argued upon by philosophers, educationalists, scientists, enthusiasts and the general public. Faith healing, when added as an adjuvant or alternative aid to medical science, will not necessarily be confined to mere arguments and debates but may also give rise to series of complications, medical emergencies and even result in death. We present an unusual case where reliance on faith healing led to the death of a young man. Keywords Faith healing, myth, death, autopsy, Nepal Introduction Nepal is a landlocked country with geographical variations comprising valleys, plateau, hills, moun- tains and plains. The socio-economic and geographic disparities in these regions have restricted access to allopathic medicine and technologies normally offered by modern medicine to people living in rural and hilly areas. These people frequently rely on the traditional thorny, ambiguous and absurd procedures offered by faith and religious healers. But even worse, some of these procedures are not confined to rural areas but have also found their way into developed cities. It is ironic that, with gov- ernment facilities and foreign aid pouring into rural areas, traditional believers are seeking modern medi- cine while some educated citizens are opting for faith healing. We present an unusual case where reliance on faith healing led to the death of a young man. Case report The dead body of an engineering student, dressed in his college uniform, was brought to the mortuary for medico-legal autopsy. There was a history of sudden death; the body was found around 8:30 a.m., just out- side the walled compound of his house. His face appeared congested and petechial haemorrhage was noted over conjunctiva of both eyes. Finger and toe nails showed bluish discolouration. There were no fresh injuries found on the body except for a few fresh abrasions on the back of both elbows. On internal examination, while removing the organs en-masse, a foreign object was discovered lodged in the oropharynx which proved to be a slug with its head extending out into the oropaharynx (Figure 1). Epiglottis and inner wall of trachea appeared con- gested. Blood-mixed mucoserous froth was present in the bronchi. All internal organs on cut section were congested, and the stomach was empty. Careful aut- opsy did not reveal any injuries to the internal organs. On questioning his classmates, it was revealed that they had witnessed the deceased ingest live slugs a couple of times earlier to treat his long-standing arth- ralgia. He would pick them randomly from walls and shady places around his house and swallow them. Further enquiries revealed that the deceased had tried different allopathic medicines before finally switching to faith healing; his ‘healer’ had advised him to ingest live slugs till the pain was relieved. It was suggested that after ingestion, the slug, due to its moist and slippery texture, might have slipped into the windpipe or might have choked the victim while he 1 Department of Forensic Medicine, Institute of Medicine, Maharajgunj, Nepal 2 Department of Forensic Medicine, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore (A Constituent College of Manipal University), India 3 Department of Forensic Medicine, Kathmandu Medical College Teaching Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal Corresponding author: Tanuj Kanchan, Department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore 575 001, India. Email: tanujkanchan@yahoo.co.in; tanuj.kanchan@manipal.edu Medico-Legal Journal 2015, Vol. 83(3) 136–138 ! The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0025817215580908 mlj.sagepub.com by guest on September 22, 2015 mlj.sagepub.com Downloaded from