ISSN: 0022-1198
CODEN: JFSCA
Page Count: 2

Olanzapine-Related Fatality
Stephens, BG
Chief medical examiner, City and County of San Francisco, CA

Coleman, DE
Toxicologist and director, Chemical Toxicology Institute, CA

Baselt, RC
Toxicologist and director, Chemical Toxicology Institute, CA

(Received 12 January 1998; accepted 17 March 1998)

Abstract

A 43-year-old male psychiatric outpatient died within hours of ingesting as much as 600 mg of olanzapine, a newer antipsychotic agent related to clozapine. Analysis of postmortem blood and urine by gas chromatography with nitrogen-selective detection yielded olanzapine concentrations of 1238 and 6987 μg/L, respectively, greatly in excess of levels expected following therapeutic administration of the drug. Based on the toxicology findings, the decedent's known history of suicide attempts, and the circumstances surrounding the death, this case was ruled a suicide by olanzapine overdosage.

Keywords:
forensic science, forensic toxicology, forensic pathology, death, olanzapine, neuroleptic agent, antipsychotic agent, suicide, drug overdose

Paper ID: JFS14397J
DOI: 10.1520/JFS14397J
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