ABSTRACT
Cocaine is one of the most rapidly growing drugs of abuse and with it comes an ever-increasing sophistication in concealment from Customs and Police, and may even result in clinicians failing to detect the concealment of packages within the intestinal tract or other body orifices. We present one such case where death arose from rupture of a package of cocaine within the rectum.
Subject(s)
Cocaine/poisoning , Drug and Narcotic Control/legislation & jurisprudence , Heart Arrest/chemically induced , Ventricular Fibrillation/chemically induced , Cocaine/pharmacokinetics , Digestive System/pathology , Female , Heart Arrest/pathology , Humans , Middle Aged , Ventricular Fibrillation/pathologyABSTRACT
Two cases of death associated with amyl nitrite are discussed. An attempt is made to highlight its noxious properties and the difficulty in attributing death to it when inhaled.
Subject(s)
Amyl Nitrite/poisoning , Death, Sudden/pathology , Homicide/legislation & jurisprudence , Administration, Inhalation , Administration, Oral , Adult , Autopsy , Cause of Death , Humans , Male , Middle AgedABSTRACT
Two inpatients of one hospital ward died. Pilocarpine poisoning was suspected and subsequently confirmed by analysis of urine. The circumstantial evidence strongly suggested that the food given to the patients in the ward had been adulterated. Police inquiries failed to elicit any further information, and open verdicts were returned at the inquest. Precautions taken subsequently to prevent a similar event--sealing food containers and trolleys--entailed a capital cost of 43,000 pounds. In addition, food stores were kept locked and tighter control kept on drugs stored in ward pharmacies.
Subject(s)
Death, Sudden/etiology , Food Service, Hospital/standards , Pilocarpine/poisoning , Aged , Diagnosis, Differential , Dyspnea/chemically induced , England , Female , Food Contamination/analysis , Humans , Pilocarpine/urine , Security MeasuresABSTRACT
Radioimmunoassay, high-performance liquid chromatography and capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry were used to detect and measure LSD in the first reported case of fatal poisoning by LSD. The levels found in ante-mortem serum and plasma and in post-mortem blood, liver blood and stomach contents are given.
