If a deceased person had been an in-patient for a period of time, admission blood samples may be requested for toxicology testing to determine if any degree of intoxication was present at the time of admission to your facility.

In trauma cases that had a short survival time but were extensively transfused, admission samples will also be valuable, not only for toxicology testing but for serology testing by organ or tissue recovery teams.

Retention times of laboratory specimens vary from hospital to hospital. If the circumstances surrounding the admission of an individual are consistent with being a potential medical examiner case, we encourage you to mark the specimens to be held for longer than the usual retention time frame in the event that they may be needed.