The Law
In California there are certain laws that require a coroner to perform tests for chemicals
in a decedent’s blood and/or urine. This article addresses what laws require testing.
General Duty to Determine Manner and Cause of Death
Under California Government Code §27491 a coroner must determine the manner and cause of
all violent, sudden or unusual deaths or deaths where the deceased has not been seen by a
physician in the 20 days before death.
There are approximately 22 types of death that a coroner has mandatory duty to
investigate. Please see my article “Types of Deaths Coroner Must Investigate” for the
full list.
For purposes of this article, the most common deaths requiring a “manner and cause of
death determination” are suicides, homicides, accidental deaths, drownings, in-custody
deaths, and fires.
As part of this mandatory duty, the coroner frequently makes use of laboratory tests of
blood collected from a deceased person.
Drugs Regularly Tested For
A 10 panel immunoassay drug screen is quite normal. Blood is screened for:
Common Practice
In practice, Coroners almost always collect blood and urine samples as part of their
normal autopsy protocol. This is true even when a death does not arise from a motor
vehicle accident.
A 10 panel immunoassay drug screen is quite normal. Blood is screened for Amphetamines, Benzodiazepines (e.g., Valium/Xanax), Cannabinoids, Cocaine and/or Metabolite, Opiates, Phencyclidine (PCP), Carisoprodol (Muscle Relaxers), Fentanyl, Oxycodone And Zolpidem (Insomnia Drugs).
In cases where a person's death is fire related, it is common to test for carboxyhemoglobin saturation rates (i.e., carbon monoxide poisoning). This may provide coroner's with that ability to determine if a person was breathing in smoke at time of death as opposed to having been deceased prior to the fire.