title: Post-mortem toxicological urine screening in cause of death determination.
abstract: This study evaluated standard toxicology screening by forensic physicians during external post-mortem examination. Collected urine samples of decedents were screened on-site for the presence of 10 commonly used drugs by means of a rapid multidrug test. Urine samples of 53% of the cases appeared to be positive for one or more compounds. Importantly, several cases were revealed which were positive for toxicology screening without indications for use of these drugs at the scene of death or from medical history. Based on these (preliminary) results, further action to incorporate routine post-mortem toxicology as a tool in forensic death investigation is recommended.
authors.affiliation: Public Health Service, Department of Epidemiology, Documentation and Health Promotion, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. mceelen@ggd.amsterdam.nl
authors.forename: Manon
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ceelen
authors.forename: Tina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dorn
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Buster
authors.forename: Joris
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stomp
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zweipfenning
authors.forename: Kees
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Das
mesh_terms: D002423:Cause of Death; D053593:Forensic Toxicology / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D009426:Netherlands; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000652:urine*; D011041:Poisoning / Q000652:urine*; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D014556:Urine / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations