The toxicological section performs analyses on various organ materials removed during medico-legal autopsies. Additionally, the section performs analyses of blood and urine sampled from road users with a view to investigate whether any of these have taken substances endangering road safety. The analyses are performed in accordance with ISO 17025 and forensic toxicological principles. The examinations are performed in order to identify and determine the concentration of any drugs, drugs of abuse or other substances foreign to organs.
In toxicological cases, the first action taken is usually to perform a so-called screening analysis to identify constituents of unknown nature. Subsequently, substances identified are verified and their concentration determined in one or more specific analyses. Positive findings are reported in a forensic chemical declaration. Forensic chemical declarations concerning autopsy cases furthermore include a toxicological assessment of the result.
Moreover, the section performs individual confirmation analyses and specific analyses for alcohol, drugs of abuse and a number of other drugs; these analyses are performed, e.g. at the request of departments of clinical biochemistry in hospitals.
With an inventory of more than 1,000 reference substances and the use of equipment such as LC-MS-MS, UPLC-TOF and GC-MS, the laboratory is capable of solving most special analytical tasks quickly and efficiently.
The list of methods is available on request. A number of these methods are validated according to ISO 17025. See a list of analysis here (in Danish).