Department of Forensic Medicine, National Institute of Scientific Investigation, Korea. giitp@yahoo.co.kr

A 45-year-old female with psychosis complained urological symptom of urinary incontinence and voiding difficulty with abdominal pains and expansion during her psychiatric hospitalization and suddenly collapsed at the 14th day of the admission. At autopsy, the urinary bladder showed a focal perforation and the abdominal cavity was filled with massive urinary ascites. The both lower lobes and the right upper lobe of the lung were accompanied by atelectasis. The death mechanism of this case could be explained that an increased abdominal pressure produced by massive uroperitoneum with spontaneous bladder rupture led to respiratory failure. The so-called abdominal compartment syndrome was manifested by massive uroperitoneum and caused a death. This would be the first forensic medical case that an undiagnosed spontaneous bladder rupture resulted in death of a psychiatric illness patient.

Key words : spontaneous bladder rupture, uroperitoneum, increased intraabdominal pressure, atelectasis, abdominal compartment syndrome