I thought this activity was an urban legend.

The Ninth Circuit has ruled that "autoerotic asphyxiation" which is described as the "act of intentionally stopping blood flow to the brain during masturbation to heighten sexual pleasure, is neither suicide nor intentionally self-inflicted injury." This comes out of an ERISA case where the insurer refused to pay the decedent's wife insurance benefits on the ground that his injuries were self-inlicted. According to the Court in Padfield v. AIG Life Insurance [2002 DJDAR 5447] "data from the United States, England, Australia and Canada indicate that one to two hypoxyphilia-caused deaths per million population are detected and reported each year."

Editorial comment: Yuck.

On the other hand, I guess that one person out of one million doing something really stupid isn't all that bad from a statistical viewpoint, and it has to have a positive effect on the gene pool. Also, this case has a timely X-File tie-in. I'm reminded of Clyde Bruckmann reassuring Agent Mulder that "no matter what they say, there are worse ways to go than auto-erotic axphyxiation."