Detection of drugs-of-abuse in meconium of a stillborn baby and in stool of a deceased 41-day-old infant.

When blood or urine is unavailable, postmortem meconium or stool from infants or stillbirths can be used to detect drugs-of-abuse, thus providing datum in assessing drug-abuse exposure. Two case reports illustrate how drugs-of-abuse findings in post-mortem specimens were used to substantiate exposure prior to death or a history of maternal drug abuse. The first, a congenital hydrocephalus, born to a non-drug abusing mother, expired at the age of 41 days, had opiates in the stool by screening method, enzyme multiplied immunoassay technique, confirmed by gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric (GC/MS) analysis. Investigation revealed that morphine had been administered for three days prior to death. The second was a stillbirth infant born to a drug abuser. Almost equal amounts of benzoylecgonine were found in different bowel segments, a finding consistent with admitted cocaine use throughout pregnancy.