Some Help With Autopsy Report Terminology?
Question by Shannon: Some help with autopsy report terminology?
Great friend of mine recently passed. Today I got a copy of the autopsy report. I don’t understand some of it. Her cause of death was ruled an accident and from poly substance toxicity. I’m assuming an overdose is what that means. The levels of methadone in her system was 710ng/ml and alprazolam was 230 ng/mL. are those high amounts by themselves or are they small amounts that were lethal when mixed?
Also, said her brain had “changes in global ischemia” what does this mean?
Finally, it said “severe pulmonary congestion – white frothy foam present in airway” what does that mean in Layman’s terms? So those are all my questions. Thank you to whoever takes the time to answer.
Best answer:
Answer by Bill
I’m not a medical professional, but I can tell you that ng/ml means nanograms per milliliter. Ischemia is a lack of blood flow to the brain which can cause brain damage or death. Pulmonary congestion is fluid in the lungs, in this case apparently in the airway. That was probably the cause of the ischemia. I don’t know if those doses are high on their own or only bad in combination.
More Methadone Overdose With Foam Information…