I decided to make a writeup as it seems to have been abandoned. Although this can be considered to be discounted due to a possible mental disorder, the fact that it's a well known fact that cleaning yourself to well or too frequently is very unhealthy or dangerous, and the fact that he refused to see a doctor or psychiatrist for many years, may be sufficient enough to count. Especially due to the fact that he inadvertently overdosed on the cleaning agent to the point that his body couldn't receive oxygen.

-----Writeup----- A man from Manchester, England, passed on from this existence, for reasons that could be considered to be from an unhealthy obsession with cleanliness and Dettol, a cleaning agent. The man, known to be reclusive and to be obsessed with cleaning himself and his flat, used Dettol to clean the flat, and even cleaning himself with it, while leaving open buckets and bottles of Dettol around the flat.

One day, however, his diligence on his war against germs was lost by his own weapon. When maintenance workers were planning on working on the suite, the man worked extra-diligently on destroying all of the germs in every took of cranny of his flat and himself. But after the maintenance workers arrived, they found the man, dead, a casualty from a lack of oxygen to his vital organs from overexposure, a martyr against the war on germs.

-----Reference------ 'Dettol Man' cleans himself to death Obsession with cleanliness kills Manchester recluse By Lester Haines → More by this author Published Tuesday 29th May 2007 11:21 GMT Why Businesses need Business Continuity - Free whitepaperMobile computing: Opportunities and risk - Free whitepaper

A coroner has recorded a verdict of death by misadventure on a reclusive Manchester man whose obsession with cleanliness led local children to dub him "Dettol Man".

Jacques Niemand, 42, of Didsbury, died of "an inadequate supply of oxygen to his vital organs" provoked by over-exposure to Dettol, the Telegraph reports. The inquest heard that he "habitually placed buckets of Dettol around his flat", while the rooms were "littered" with bottles of the liquid.

Niemand's sister Ruth Bain explained that her brother had suffered from an "obsessive cleaning disorder" for some years, but didn't seek medical help "because he feared the prospect of being detained under the Mental Health Act". Accordingly, he hadn't seen his GP since 1992. Bain said: "He didn't want any help and was scared of receiving it."

Pathologist Dr Lorna McWilliam told the inquest it was "difficult to say whether [Niemand's] exposure to Dettol had been through ingestion or inhalation". She elaborated: "I cannot be sure his death arose through using an excessive amount at one time, but I suspect there must be an element of that."

Recording a verdict of misadventure, Manchester coroner Leonard Gorodkin described Niemand's demise as "a most unusual kind of death", admitting: "We do not know if death occurred quickly or over a period of time."

Gorodkin suggested the fatal dose might have arisen since Niemand "knew workmen were due to begin improvements to his flat on the day he died he may have wanted to make himself particularly clean". He did, however, disagree with Bain's suspicion that her brother had wanted to kill himself. He concluded: "If that had been the case the level of chlorate in his body would have been much higher." ------------

Submitted on 06/25/2007

Submitted by: James
Reference: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/29/dettol_man/

Copyright © 2007 DarwinAwards.com

Bruce said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
Thanks for the detailed research & writeup of this, James. As you said, this death could have been the result of a mental disorder but I still think it's unique enough to qualify.

James said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
This bloke was beyond merely mentally unstable! Hell, this was WAR...and he lost! In effect, this is an antiseptic version of "mutually assured destruction"! Unique enough to consider! Thanks, James!

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