03-06-2011, 05:55 PM
(03-06-2011, 05:40 PM)ZEROSPHERES Wrote:(03-06-2011, 05:12 PM)NightOwl Wrote: If it was one monster could an anesthetic have been used? I read about SUX for short being used in a murder. Then how about a chemical found in garage or a garden shed some pretty toxic stuff there. Did they do a brain autopsy? we don't know - some chemicals may not show up in the blood. It's a mystery for now all of it! Enjoyed your posted!
Suxamethonium chloride....I think you are fully aware but unable to move a muscle...Recently there are toxicology tests to show its presence post mortum. Years ago it could be used in murder and the cause of death was impossible to discern.
The Writer’s Forensics Blog
Succinylcholine: Is It the Perfect Murder Weapon? Not Exactly.
Posted in Interesting Cases, Poisons & Drugs by D.P. Lyle, MD on January 11, 2010
Succinylcholine, SUX for short, is a neuromuscular paralytic drug. This means that it works at the junction of the nerves and muscles and causes muscular paralysis. It paralyzes all the muscles of the body, including those used for breathing. Without ventilatory support anyone who receives this drug will die from asphyxia. The bad news is that they will be wide awake while this occurs because SUX causes muscular paralysis but has no sedative effects.
In medicine, it is used as part of anesthesia. Since it causes complete muscular relaxation it makes passing the endotracheal (ET) tube much easier. This ET tube is passed through the nose or the mouth and into the trachea where a balloon is inflated to keep it in position. The tube has been used to ventilate the patient throughout the surgery.
Succinylcholine, or some similar paralytic agent, is part of the three drug cocktail used in lethal injection executions. The first is a sedative to put the person to sleep, the second is the paralytic drug that paralyzes all muscles, and the final is potassium chloride which immediately stops the heart.
Succinylcholine must be injected and it works very quickly—within seconds to a minute. It is very short acting because enzymes in the body begin to break down the drug almost immediately. This makes it tough for the crime lab. There is no Succinylcholine left to test and so testing for it will prove negative. However testing for the breakdown products, also called metabolites, of the drug has proved successful in many cases.
The ability to test for these breakdown products stemmed from the case of Carl Coppolino, one of F. Lee Bailey’s most famous cases. This case is a milestone in Forensic Toxicology.