Attempted Suicide by Breaking Pre-Electroconvulsive Therapy Fasting.

Abstract

CASE REPORT A 64-year-old male bipolar I patient in a severe depressive episode was referred to outpatient electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Upon admission, at 7 AM of the first day of treatment, both the patient and his wife signed a document confirming the observance of preprocedure fasting, a routine in this hospital. A few minutes later, in the ECTroom,whenqueried again about fasting by the ECT nurse, the patient disclosed having eaten a large solid meal earlier in the morning, overreaching the watchfulness of his family. He also stated that by breaking the necessary fast for ECT, he intended to commit suicide, being killed by a compromised anesthetic procedure. His first ECT treatment was then postponed.