Dept of Forensic Medicine, Dr Pinnamaneni Siddhartha, Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Foundation, Gannavaram, Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh 521286
Every death resulting from poisoning has to be investigated to establish the exact cause of death. Difficulties in clinical diagnosis of poisoning are well known owing to the presence of nonspecific signs and symptoms in many a case, and the predilection of some cases to mimic natural diseases. The same situation prevails in medicolegal investigations, and the forensic pathologist is not uncommonly perplexed due to nonspecific autopsy findings. Some poisons are retained in the body for a long time after death, while others are rapidly metabolized and excreted, or undergo deterioration in the postmortem period.
This study was undertaken to find out the effect of survival time on autopsy findings and chemical analysis of body tissue and body fluids in poisoning deaths. Most of the cases studied were deaths due to exposure to pesticides. Toxicological analysis was positive for some poison or the other in 70% of cases. Kerosene-like odour, which is characteristic of organophosphate poisoning, could be detected up to 3 days in some cases. In 94% of the cases, chemical analysis was positive up to three days after death. Thereafter, the chance of detection of poison in routine viscera decreases to 50%.
Some suggestions have also been made to aid postmortem diagnosis of poisoning cases.
