Journal of forensic sciences
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Comparative Study
A comparison of ONTRAK TESTCUP, abuscreen ONTRAK, abuscreen ONLINE, and GC/MS urinalysis test results.
This study was designed to compare results obtained from two separate on-site drug testing kits (ONTRAK TESTCUP and Abuscreen ONTRAK) with those obtained from laboratory based immunoassay and GC/MS. Abuscreen ONLINE immunoassay was used to select 250 negative samples and 100 presumptive-positive samples each for cocaine/metabolites, opiates and cannabinoids. Presumptive-positive samples were selected if the immunoassay response was > or = 300 ng/mL for cocaine/metabolites (BZE), > or = 300 ng/mL for opiates or > or = 50 ng/mL for cannabinoids (THC-COOH). ⋯ The least agreement between ONTRAK and ONLINE results was found when testing samples that contained THC-COOH. The agreement was 89%, however, all discrepant samples contained GC/MS concentrations of THC-COOH less that the 50 ng/mL cutoff. With ONTRAK, a 100% agreement was obtained between expected and recorded results QC samples that contained morphine or THC-COOH and a 97.7% agreement was obtained between expected and recorded results on QC samples that contained BZE.
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An unusual manner of carbon monoxide poisoning claimed the lives of two adults in two separate incidents. In the first case, a young man was four wheeling in a swampy area when his jeep became stuck in the mud as he continued to floor the accelerator. Carbon monoxide fumes entered the vehicle through the rusted floorboards, killing the driver. ⋯ The carboxyhemoglobin levels in these victims were 78 and 62% respectively. It was only through laboratory testing that carbon monoxide poisoning was identified as the cause of their demise. Physicians as well as the public need to be aware of the potential for this life threatening hazard to occur so that there can be proper emergency treatment and the prevention of fatalities.
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This paper presents 15 deaths of suicidal persons in Oregon and Florida who, by their behavior, sufficiently provoked law enforcement officers into killing them. Four deaths were certified as suicide, one as undetermined and ten as homicide. All of the deaths are individually described in detail and their case characteristics are presented in a table. ⋯ A brief discussion of psychiatric issues is also presented concerning individuals who use others to commit suicide and who may engage in dangerous and/or criminal behavior to do so. A major conclusion is that there is lack of a unified opinion on death certification procedures for individuals who have provoked law enforcement officers to kill them. For such cases, it is recommended that professional organizations of medical examiners/coroners develop guidelines to promote consistency in death certification practices including manner of death classification and selection of death certificate wording so that "police-assisted suicide" may be appropriately reported and studied.
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We describe a simple method for measuring sodium azide concentrations in aliquots of blood and other tissues. Aliquots are acidified, converting azide to volatile hydrazoic acid (HN3) which is then trapped in sodium hydroxide. We analyze the resulting aliquots by ion chromatography, using a sodium tetraborate eluent and suppressed conductivity detection. The method is sensitive to at least 100 ng/mL.