Emedinews: Insights on Medicolegal Issues:Immunization death and sampling for toxicological screening

The doctor conducting the autopsy is duty bound to take samples, which should be sent to forensic laboratory for toxicological/chemical examination.

• The site of injection and the tissues lying below up to 2-3 cms (button size) with dermis and epidermis of the sight of injection should be excised out.  It should be preserved in a glass jar which should be filled two-thirds with saturated saline water.
• The specimens should be sealed, signed, labeled by the doctor/autopsy surgeon and should be handed over to police /investigating officer for further toxicological/chemical examination.
• The viscera should be preserved for for toxicological/chemical examination i.e. liver (80-100gm), brain (100 gm) with meninges, whole of the stomach with gastric contents. If there are no gastric contents, a section of stomach should be sent. The upper part of small intestine (about 30cm length with its contents), fragments from both adrenal glands, half of transverse section of kidneys, half of spleen, blood (100 ml ideal / minimum 10 ml)  and urine (100 ml/ minimum 10 ml).
• All the visceral specimens should be collected in separate containers or a wide- mouthed bottle as prescribed; saturated saline should be added as preservative. The quantity of the saline should be sufficient to cover all the pieces of specimen viscera in the bottle.
• The specimens should be sealed, signed, labeled by the doctor/autopsy surgeon and should be handed over to police /investigating officer for further chemical examination in a forensic lab.