Severe Meprobamate Intoxication: In Death as in Life?

Abstract

n unusual case is presented where a toxicological investigation conducted in one laboratory was important for the proper interpretation of postmortem toxicology findings in the same person, in a different laboratory, seven months later. The first incident, a minor motor vehicle accident, involved a severe meprobamate intoxication in which the person's blood concentration was 98 mg/L. In the second incident, a fatal house fire, the postmortem blood meprobamate concentration was 96 mg/L. Knowledge of the first toxicological investigation and circumstances surrounding the matter aided interpretation of the postmortem toxicology findings: that the very high blood meprobamate concentrations probably resulted from chronic abuse of the drug and not from a suicidal overdose.