Determination of fentanyl in hair: the case of the crooked criminalist.

When a State Crime Laboratory Director found that fentanyl patches were missing from a case submission stored in his evidence vault, he performed an investigation of those members of his staff who had access to the materials. As part of this investigation, two staff members were forced to submit to hair testing for fentanyl and other opiates and opioids. This unusual testing protocol was used to identify a senior Criminalist as a chronic abuser of fentanyl, and led to the rapid resolution of the case. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the forensic analysis of hair for drugs of abuse in which the technology was used to identify an individual as a chronic fentanyl abuser.

Massive metoprolol ingestion associated with a fatality--a case report.

An unusual fatality involving a 26-year-old male who intentionally ingested approximately 10 g of metoprolol is presented. Autopsy findings revealed foreign material in the gastric content with an acute thrombosis of the left anterior descending coronary artery. Microscopic studies showed evidence of an extremely early infarct. Metoprolol concentrations in the blood, liver, gastric content, and urine are reported by both capillary gas chromatography and ultraviolet spectrophotometric analysis. A review of the literature confirmed that little information has been published concerning intoxication with this drug.