OxyContin Intoxication

Often, a medical examiner will rely on toxicology or toxicological findings to determine cause of death. Toxicology, or the study of poisons, refers to the labwork performed on the body post-mortem. Occasionally, the cause of death will be “oxycodone intoxication.” If the patient dies of an overdose from the drug OxyContin, the drug shows up on the toxicology report as oxycodone, which is the active medication in OxyContin (a long-acting form of oxycodone). I have received calls from potential clients who wondered why the medical examiner listed OxyContin or “oxycodone intoxication” as the cause of death, as they had not noticed the family member to be “intoxicated” as that word is generally used when referring to alcohol intoxication. Intoxication means that the drug has reached “toxic” or poisonous levels. The medical examiner could have also listed oxycodone overdose as cause of death, or oxycodone poisoning. It would have meant the same thing.