Toxicology

In some cases, blood will be sent to a toxicology laboratory for testing to determine what substances may be in the decedent's system and what those levels are.

If the cause and/or manner of death is pending toxicology, we send biological samples to a private laboratory for quicker results. Testing for pending cases pending can take approximately 3-4 weeks for results. If the cause and/or manner of death is not pending, but we have still chosen to send biological samples, we send those to the Washington State Patrol Laboratory. Testing for non-pending cases can take approximately 3-6 months for results. Once results come back to our office, the results are sent to the assigned Forensic Pathologist who will use the results to make the final determination of cause and manner of the death (if one has not been made or it changes the original cause and manner). The entire process for cases pending toxicology can take up to approximately 8 weeks.

A Death Certificate can be issued for the case as soon as a mortuary has been chosen by the legal next of kin. The cause/manner of death will be listed as "pending toxicology" and will be sufficient for use to make final determinations. Pending cases for toxicology do not delay the decedent being released to the funeral home. Once the final cause and manner have been determined we make those changes with the Washington State Department of Health and an updated Death Certificate can be obtained with the updated information from the funeral home of choice or the Lewis County Public Health Department.