What kind of fast-acting and relatively trauma free forms of poison are there? Ones that can kill you really quickly, make you pass out or both? Ones that are easy to get for the average joe? I've had this idea about a morality tale, where it's a mercy killing but they cover their tracks so well it raises the question of whether the killer should be cought after all, presenting the cop with a moral dilemma.
Cyanide? Potassium Chloride is fast acting but I'm prtty sure neither it not cyanide are trauma free exactly. Sorry but fast acting and trauma free as far as I know don't tend to go together too well. It's usually one way or the other with any poison I know of. The body isn't very fond of things that shouldn't be there or when theres a little of too much of something in the equation. EDIT: I does depend on what you mean by fast acting. You want instant poisoning or is a delayed effect of an hour or two ok? At that time frame you might be able to get some pretty trauma free killers not that I can name any off the top of my head.
I'm looking for poisons which kill quickly, as in as soon as, or close to, them being introduced into the body. Either fast acting, or a poison which induces delirium (spelling?), unconsciousness or coma whether it kills quickly or not. Something you would use for a mercy killing.
Cyanide seems to do the trick. You fall into a coma and die. In smaller doses, it causes giddiness and dilerium. 1.5mg/kg human weight says wikipedia.
Death is extreme trauma by definition. Heroin would be far easier for the average Joe to obtain than cyanide. Death by repiratory suppression. Oleander is one of the most toxic plants known, yet it is often used as an ornamental shrub.
Cyanide does the job well enough if you don't care about the foaming at the mouth and convulsions leading up to the coma. Potassium Chloride is good for that too but also causes convulsions I think, and I have no idea as to it's availability. Cog is right about Heroine. Morphine overdose might do the trick too.
Don't be predictable. Aconite from the Monkshood plant is fastest and painless. Barring that I would have MC ingest morphine via oxycontin from pills he/she stole from someone else. Tylenol overdose would do it too. Kills the kidneys. Not that I have thought about it or anything
Make sure they are broken up or powdered. Therein lies the lethality of oxycontin; rate of absorption.
Does it have to be poison? I'm personally a huge fan of carbon monoxide 'poisoning' or an injection of air into the veins. Both are quick and hard to trace, although the whole 'air in bloodstream' thing is a pretty painful way to die.
Some very good suggestions. Thinking about these unusual choices makes the idea come together better, gives fuzzy ideas a bit of substance, and textures the characters a bit. Jeez, I sound like such a bloody luvvie
What about CO poisoning? Burning a charcole BBQ in a closed room for example? That could do the same job, surely?
1) Drugs that kill quickly, without suffering: You might research the real life "Dr. Death"...Dr. Kevorkian. This physician invented a self-administered death machine which allowed terminally ill patients to take their own lives without pain or suffering. While he ended up in prison for assisting suicide, his methods certainly answer some of your concern about painless death. 2) Detectable: Untimely or unexplained deaths are investigated by the coroner's office and every "fast" method of killing (that I can think of) leaves traces or evidence. I would be less inclined to worry about detection of the method and more concerned about obscuring the identity of the killer. For example, an overdose of pain killer like morphine might be caused by malfunction of equipment that automatically dispenses medicine into an IV solution. In end stage cancer treatment, patients often have this set-up and are given a button that they can push to increase the painkiller when needed. Of course, the machines have safeguards against overdose...BUT...is it possible to monkey with that machine without being caught? Is it possible to ALLOW the authorities to know that the cause of death was an overdose but be unable to "pin the tail on the donkey"? For example, a family member might study the machine to find a way to compromise the alarm system and reset the dosage...then accuse the hospital of incompetence or perhaps of having an "angel of death" nurse on staff. Sure there WAS an assisted suicide, officials would quickly discover that, but they could be hard pressed to figure out the culprit. 3) Drugs that are easy to access by the average person: There are many. From illegal drugs like heroine to legal drugs like sleeping pills that can be obtained by presctiprion and diverted into the illegal activity. The problem is all these drugs will leave residual traces and potentially be traced back to the person who admiistered them. And the ideal drugs for your application are not as easily obtained...like a drug-cocktail that works in a carefully planned sequence. First, it renders a person unconscious to prevent pain and suffering. Then, the lethal component like potassium chloride would stop all muscle activity including breathing and the heart muscle. You can research such drug combinations under the subject of capital punishment - lethal injection.
Tylenol OD would take more than four bottles, and causes vomiting before taking effect. You'd have to keep the pills down long enough to take effect, only to find you didn't take enough...
