Pesticidal suicide: Adult fatal rotenone poisoning

• Published in: Journal of forensic and legal medicine Vol. 18; no. 7; pp. 340 - 342
• Main Author: Patel, Freddy
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2011; Churchill Livingstone Inc., Medical Publishers
• Subjects: Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Coroner; Female; Forensic; Forensic hematology; Forensic Pathology; Forensic Toxicology; Humans; India; Insecticides - blood; Insecticides - poisoning; Liver - pathology; Lung - pathology; Middle Aged; Multiple Organ Failure - chemically induced; Necropsy; Necrosis; Pathology; Pesticide; Pesticides; Poisoning; Pulmonary Edema - pathology; Rotenone; Rotenone - blood; Rotenone - poisoning; Suicide; Suicides & suicide attempts; Tandem Mass Spectrometry; Thanatopsy; Toxicity; Toxicology; India; Pesticide; Coroner; Toxicity; Necropsy; Thanatopsy; Poisoning; Forensic; Suicide; Rotenone
• ISSN: 1752-928X; 1878-7487; 1878-7487
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jflm.2011.06.014

Rotenone is a pesticide and a piscicide derived from the derris root. The mechanism for the cytotoxicity is at mitochondrial level affecting cellular respiration. A suicide by rotenone poisoning in an adult is described. An innovative laboratory methodology was developed for the principal requirement of the Coroner to determine a positive or negative result to assist in the investigation of the death. The antemortem concentrations detected were 4.05 ng/ml [0.00405 ppm] in the blood and 0.55 ng/ml [0.00055 ppm] in the serum. Toxicity in human is rare and therefore the interpretation of the toxicology results is complicated by the unavailability of a data bank. The cause of death was attributed to rotenone toxicity based on the circumstantial evidence and expert pathological opinion on a balance of probability acceptable under the Coroners Act 1988 and Coroners Rules 1984 in England and Wales. The forensic clinicopathology of rotenone toxicity is discussed.