Forensic Science

Learning Objectives Harold Shipman, Dr. DeathAfter studying this chapter youshould be able to: Kathleen Grundy’s sudden death in 1998 was shock-● Explain how alcohol is ing news to her daughter, Angela Woodruff. Mrs. Grundy, an 81-year-old widow, was believed to be absorbed into the blood- in good health when her physician, Dr. Harold Ship- stream, transported through- man, visited her a few hours before her demise. out the body, and eliminated Some hours later, when friends came to her home to by oxidation and excretion check on her whereabouts, they found Mrs. Grundy● Understand the process by lying on a sofa fully dressed and dead. which alcohol is excreted in the breath via the lungs Dr. Shipman pronounced her dead and informed● Understand the concepts of her daughter that an autopsy was not necessary. A infrared and fuel cell breath- few days later, Mrs. Woodruff was surprised to learn testing devices for alcohol that a will had surfaced leaving all of Mrs. Grundy’s testing money to Dr. Shipman. The will was immediately● Describe commonly employed recognized as a forgery and led to the exhumation field sobriety tests to assess of Mrs. Grundy’s body. A toxicological analysis of the alcohol impairment remains revealed a lethal quantity of morphine.● List and contrast laboratory procedures for measuring the In retrospect, there was good reason to suspect concentration of alcohol in that Dr. Shipman was capable of foul play. In the the blood 1970s, he was asked to leave a medical practice● Relate the precautions to be because of a drug abuse problem and charges taken to properly preserve that he obtained drugs by forgery and deception. blood in order to analyze its However, Dr. Shipman was quickly back to practic- alcohol content ing medicine. By 1998, local undertakers became● Understand the significance of suspicious at the number of his patients who were implied-consent laws and the dying. What is more, they all seemed to be elderly Schmerber v. California case women who were found sitting in a chair or lying to traffic enforcement fully clothed on a bed. As police investigated, the● Describe techniques that horror of Dr. Shipman’s deeds became apparent. forensic toxicologists use One clinical audit estimated that Dr. Shipman killed to isolate and identify drugs at least 236 of his patients over a 24-year period. and poisons Most of the deaths were attributed to fatal doses of● Appreciate the significance heroin or morphine. Toxicological analysis on seven of finding a drug in human exhumed bodies clearly showed significant quanti- tissues and organs to assessing ties of morphine. Convicted of murder, Dr. Shipman impairment hanged himself in his jail cell in 2004. National Science Content StandardsScientific Science andInquiry TechnologyPhysical Science inScience Personal and SocialLife PerspectiveScience History and Nature of Science

Forensic 6ToxicologyKey Terms excretion fuel cell detectorabsorption metabolismacid oxidationalveoli pH scaleanticoagulant preservativeartery toxicologistbasecapillary veincatalyst

208 Chapter 6toxicologist The Role of ForensicAn individual whose Toxicologyjob is to detect andidentify drugs and It is no secret that in spite of the concerted efforts of law enforcement agencies topoisons in body fluids, prevent distribution and sale of illicit drugs, thousands die every year from inten-tissues, and organs tional or unintentional administration of drugs, and many more innocent lives are lost as a result of the erratic and frequently uncontrollable behavior of indi- viduals under the influence of drugs. But one should not automatically attribute these occurrences to the wide proliferation of illicit-drug markets. For example, in the United States alone, drug manufacturers produce enough sedatives and antidepressants each year to provide every man, woman, and child with about 40 pills. All of the statistical and medical evidence shows ethyl alcohol, a legal over-the-counter drug, to be the most heavily abused drug in Western countries. Because the uncontrolled use of drugs has become a worldwide problem af- fecting all segments of society, the role of the toxicologist has taken on new and added significance. Toxicologists detect and identify drugs and poisons in body fluids, tissues, and organs. Their services are required not only in such legal in- stitutions as crime laboratories and medical examiners’ offices; they also reach into hospital laboratories—where identifying a drug overdose may represent the difference between life and death—and into various health facilities that monitor the intake of drugs and other toxic substances. Primary examples include per- forming blood tests on children exposed to leaded paints and analyzing the urine of addicts enrolled in methadone maintenance programs. The role of the forensic toxicologist is limited to matters that pertain to viola- tions of criminal law. However, responsibility for performing toxicological servic- es in a criminal justice system varies considerably throughout the United States. In systems with a crime laboratory independent of the medical examiner, this re- sponsibility may reside with one or the other or may be shared by both. Some sys- tems, however, take advantage of the expertise of government health department laboratories and assign this role to them. Nevertheless, whatever facility handles this work, its caseload will reflect the prevailing popularity of the drugs that are abused in the community. In most cases, this means that the forensic toxicologist handles numerous requests to determine the presence of alcohol in the body. Forty percent of all traffic deaths in the United States, nearly 17,500 fatalities per year, are alcohol related, along with more than 2 million injuries each year requiring hospital treatment. This highway death toll, as well as the untold dam- age to life, limb, and property, shows the dangerous consequences of alcohol abuse (see Figure 6–1). Because of the prevalence of alcohol in the toxicologist’s work, we will begin by taking a closer look at how the body processes and responds to alcohol.

Forensic Toxicology 209 FIGURE 6–1 Alcohol consumption increases the risk of traffic accidents and fatalities. A crashed car is on display as part of a Don’t Drink and Drive campaign. Courtesy Peter Arnold, Inc. Quick Review ● Forensic toxicologists detect and identify drugs and poisons in body fluids, tissues, and organs in matters that pertain to violations of criminal laws. ● Ethyl alcohol is the most heavily abused drug in Western countries.Toxicology of AlcoholThe subject of the analysis of alcohol immediately confronts us with the primaryobjective of forensic toxicology—detecting and isolating drugs in the body todetermine their influence on human behavior. Knowing how the body metabo-lizes alcohol provides the key to understanding its effects on human behavior.In the case of alcohol, however, the problem is further complicated by practicalconsiderations. The predominant role of the automobile in our society has man-dated the imposition of laws to protect the public from the drinking driver. Thishas meant that toxicologists have had to devise rapid and specific procedures formeasuring the degree of alcohol intoxication. The methods used must be suitablydesigned to test hundreds of thousands of motorists annually without causingthem undue physical harm or unreasonable inconvenience, while at the sametime providing a reliable diagnosis that can be supported and defended within theframework of the legal system.