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“Bath Salts” the New York City Medical Examiner Experience: A 3‐Year Retrospective Review
Author(s) -
deRoux Stephen J.,
Dunn William A.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.715
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4029
pISSN - 0022-1198
DOI - 10.1111/1556-4029.13316
Subject(s) - cathinone , medical examiner , forensic toxicology , khat , medicine , amphetamine , designer drug , toxicology , pharmacology , poison control , emergency medicine , injury prevention , chemistry , drug , chromatography , biology , dopamine
“Bath salts” are synthetic derivatives of cathinones, compounds found in the leaves of Catha edulis , which possesses amphetamine‐like properties. At the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner, we conducted a 3‐year retrospective analysis of deaths in which cathinones were detected. Two categories emerged; those in which cathinones were a contributory cause of death (15 cases) and those in which they were an incidental finding (15 cases). Of the former group, 13 were associated with additional intoxicants; two deaths were attributed solely to cathinone intoxication, both survived 10 h: a man whose postmortem blood methylone concentration was 0.71 mg/L and a woman whose postmortem blood ethylone concentration was 1.7 mg/L. In the latter category, there were several individuals who had higher concentrations of cathinones than the above two, the highest being a blood methylone of 4.8 mg/L. Based upon our data and the literature presented, lethal concentrations of cathinones cannot be established.