Poisonings

‘Anything and everything else’ would sum up what can crop up in such cases and rarely are two cases the same. From deliberate or accidental child drug/alcohol poisonings through to carefully planned acts of consumer terrorism a wide range of ‘poisoning agents’ in a wide range of samples can be submitted for analysis. A standardised approach is a good basis to tackling such cases.

 
Topics in this module include:-

• Legislation
• Approach to casework
• Availability of poisons
• Signs/symptoms
• Initial observations
• Importance of blanks and controls
• Group spot tests
• Further testing