ABSTRACT
We have chosen to include a separate chapter on postmortem toxicology because this particular subject, like that of driving under the inuence, oen involves eorts on the part of the toxicologist beyond simply determination of what drugs may be present and the amounts thereof, but also what those ndings mean in the context of the overall cases. In postmortem considerations, the question is what role (if any) did the drug play in the death? While seemingly simplistic, the question cannot generally be resolved by reference to a table of postmortem drug levels, or some formula to convert such values to antemortem levels, or amount of drug that had been ingested. In these cases, viewing the results from a perspective of understanding of the actions of the drugs that have been found, with a critical eye to the uncertainty associated with inferences based on postmortem toxicologic results, the toxicologist can sometimes oer valuable insight and interpretation for a case. It is toward sharing some of the challenges and issues facing the
toxicologist in the postmortem world that this chapter is focused.
