Importance of Sampling Sites for Postmortem Evaluation of Ethyl Alcohol

Detection of ethyl alcohol and its origin in postmortem specimens is essential in terms of medico-legal aspects.It is a complicated process to determine whether alcohol has been taken in the ante-mortem period and/or originatesfrom postmortem endogenous production.In this study, considering sampling sites and storage conditions, we aimed to develop an approach for postmortemethyl alcohol investigations. Samples were collected from 32 cases. Blood specimens drained from the femoral veinand the vena cava inferior were put into well covered PET tubes with anti-coagulants and urine samples were putinto well covered PET tubes without anti-coagulants and preserved at + 4ºC, analyzed with enzymatic immunoassaywithin five days of specimen collection.Scene investigations, sampling and sampling sites, specimen handling, preserving specimens and preparationsbefore analyses are highly important for an accurate and scientific evaluation of postmortem ethyl alcohol. Therewere significant differences in ethyl alcohol concentrations between blood from the femoral vein and vena cavainferior and urine. Femoral vein and urine specimens seemed to be more reliable than vena cava inferior specimens.</p

PNEUMOLOGISTS' APPROACH TOWARDS EUTHANASIA

Introduction: With the legalization of active euthanasia in the Netherlands and Belgium in recent years, euthanasia has become a subject of discussion again. It is important that physicians, particularly oncologists express their opinion about euthanasia. The aim of this study was to reveal what pneumologists who worked in oncology clinics thought about euthanasia