by Sarah Shafer *Not the video game I’ve gotten some version of this call many times in my budding career as a medical toxicologist: “Hello, we have a something-year-old patient in the ER who overdosed on ______ (fill in the blank) medication. How long do we need to watch them before we can medically clear […]
Tox and Hound – All Drugs Go to Heaven
by Andrew Stolbach “Who cares about that?” This is what my supportive wife (who also happens to be a doctor) said when I told her I wanted to write about postmortem drug testing. I can understand where she is coming from. Before writing something, it is valid to ask if this is something that my […]
Tox and Hound – A Few Days on the Drug Circuit
by Jeanna Marraffa A 45-year-old male with history of cardiomyopathy has an out of hospital cardiac arrest. Resuscitative efforts were initiated pre-hospital and return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) was achieved. However, upon arrival to the emergency department (ED), he was profoundly hypotensive with a blood pressure of 50/palp and a heart rate of 40 beats […]