Morphine in postmortem blood: its importance for the diagnosis of deaths associated with opiate addiction.

This article describes an analytical method for the determination of morphine, the active metabolite of heroin, in post-mortem blood by HPLC with electrochemical detection. An extraction technique allowing the determination of free and total morphine (free morphine + morphine glucuronide) was used. Blood morphine levels in postmortem cases are reported and the ratio of free to total morphine was measured in 52 cases obtained at autopsy. The importance of this ratio is discussed in relation to the circumstances of the death.