Expert: Ronald Levy, M.D. - 5/19/2011

Question
Hello,
I'm writing a crime story where a woman got killed. At first the investigators determined the cause of death as strangulation, but latter the autopsy showed that the victim was killed by over anesthetic injection. I need everything to be authentic, so can you please tell me the clinical forensic signs of anesthetic poisoning? The lung tissue changes, eyes and skin colors changes...etc

Answer
I doubt you would see any obvious physical findings and only on blood analysis might you find traces of anesthetic. Of course this depends on the type of anesthetic you plan to use for the murder but, in general, there would be no specific findings.

Ronald Levy, MD
Professor of Anesthesiology
UTMB-Galveston