Citation

Walsh EE, Shoff EN, Elizabeth Zaney M, Hime GW, Garavan F, Boland DM. J. Forensic Sci. 2019; 64(1): 314-317.

Affiliation

Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner Department, 1851 NW 10th Avenue, Miami, FL, 33136.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/1556-4029.13822

PMID

29772071

Abstract

A case demonstrating the necessity of thorough death investigation processes where toxicology plays an active role is presented. A 33-year-old white man presented to the emergency room in respiratory distress after an overdose episode where he was revived on the scene by fire rescue. His condition continued to deteriorate and he expired 6 days after the initial incident. No admission specimens were available for testing; however, there were specimens drawn 4 and 5 days after the incident. Drug paraphernalia from the scene was obtained by the laboratory through collaboration with local law enforcement. Drug paraphernalia was initially tested in the laboratory and after obtaining the results, the antemortem and postmortem specimens were tested identifying mitragynine and U-47700, among other drugs. These results indicate the value in obtaining and testing drug paraphernalia, and the value of testing antemortem specimens even in the event of a delay.

© 2018 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Language: en

Keywords

U-47700; antemortem specimens; delayed death; drug paraphernalia; forensic science; investigative forensic toxicology; mitragynine; overdose; postmortem