Abstract
Medicolegal death investigations in the United States are handled by a mixture of county, regional, and state medical examiner (ME) and coroner offices and typically occur in response to sudden, unexpected, and unnatural deaths. Potential deaths due to the toxic effects of illicit and/or prescription drugs are an increasing proportion of the deaths investigated by ME and coroner offices. The National Association of Medical Examiners recommends that these investigations include complete autopsy examination for the documentation of underlying natural disease and significant injuries as well as obtaining a variety of specimens for toxicology testing. Results of toxicology testing in the postmortem setting are then interpreted in conjunction with history, scene investigation, and autopsy and ancillary study findings so that cause and manner of death may be determined.
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