Citation

Langlois NEI, Gilbert JD, Heath KJ, Winskog C, Kostakis C. Forensic Sci. Med. Pathol. 2013; 9(1): 44-47.

Affiliation

Forensic Science SA, 21 Divett Place, Adelaide, SA, 5000, Australia. neil.langlois@sa.gov.au

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s12024-012-9388-0

PMID

23179990

Abstract

An audit of toxicological analysis in Coronial autopsies performed at Forensic Science South Australia was conducted on the cases of three pathologists. Toxicological analysis had been performed in 555 (68 %) from a total of 815 autopsies. It was found that the proffered manner of death was changed from the provisional report (provided immediately after the post-mortem examination) in five cases (just under 1 %) as a consequence of the toxicological findings. This is a limited study as it is retrospective, not all cases had toxicological analysis and the findings are constrained by the range of the substances that could be detected. Nonetheless, the audit supports the application of toxicological analysis in medico-legal death investigation and suggests that an inclusive policy should be adopted.

Language: en