ABSTRACT
The primary goal of the clinical toxicology laboratory is to provide timely analytical and interpretive services to aid the medical community in the diagnosis of drug overdose, the management of drug therapy, and in the evaluation of toxicity from a wide variety of commercial, industrial, and environmental agents. As the medical profession increases its reliance on laboratory analyses for diagnosis and treatment, the direct cause/effect relationship between laboratory error and patient harm becomes increasingly evident. This therefore exposes the clinical toxicology laboratory to increased liability. The best way to minimize liability is adherence of good laboratory standards. Proper sample handling procedures may also minimize the disruption of normal laboratory routine that medicolegal testimony can produce. In conjunction with proper sample handling and appropriate analytical methodology, reliable medicolegal testimony forms a successful medicolegal analysis. Medicolegal testimony can be divided into three separate but interrelated categories: evidential, descriptive, and expert.
