Heroin "No Cause of Death" on Death Certificate

[ZolsiaB]

Hi everyone!

I have been investigating my brothers death for an audio story and was wondering if anyone on here had any insights into this situation. I don't know very much about drugs and addiction outside of what I know specifically about my brothers situation. Here it is...


My brother died in Oakland in 2002, his name was Danny Hope and he was 29 years old. He was addicted to painkillers and opiates(mostly heroin) for about 6 years before he died. He got into drugs from trying morphine out of his step grandfathers medicine cabinet. After a fall off of Mount Diablo he got hooked on pain killers and the rest is history. I was 12 years old when he died and now I'm 25.

The big mystery surrounding his death is that his death certificate said "No Cause of Death" and after a full toxicology report nothing was found. He was found 2 days after he died but apparently that doesn't mean much because drugs still should have been detected. When he was found he was lying on his back in bed and there was a candle next to him with a spoon with "brown liquid" (I assume that it was heroin), his belt on the floor next to him and a syringe was lying on his waist.

There was a full autopsy that took 3 months to close and there was nothing found in the syringe when it was tested. His heart, blood, urine, leg blood and vitreous were all tested and everything came up negative for drugs.

Does anyone have any idea what this might mean? is there a certain strain or combination of drugs that doesn't show up on toxicology reports? Has anyone ever heard of this with anyone they have lost? Any information would be so useful. Thank you so much for reading this.

 

[tacodude]

Sorry to say, but it is an obvious case of heroin overdose. It's really sad you had to lose your brother at such a young age. I do hope you're able to share his story and stop others from overdosing or finally getting "opiate overdose" as a cause of death as even to this day they will say respritory depression caused the death even if it was only caused due to the heroin overdose. I wish you the best and am sorry I couldn't give you a better response.

Edit: did they not test the brown liquid residue on the spoon? I'm sure it was heroin especially as he was living in Oakland

 

[George27]

There was a full autopsy that took 3 months to close and there was nothing found in the syringe when it was tested. His heart, blood, urine, leg blood and vitreous were all tested and everything came up negative for drugs.

This make no sense.
He was addicted, so he had to have some trace of opiates in his fluids.
Plus, how it is possible that there was nothing in the syringe?

A possibility is that he was using a fentanyl analog that did not show up in the analisis. Dope made with with one of the fentanyls is called China White, and is not uncommon in the USA. If the analog is new and uncommon , the police lab can miss it.

If the stuff had been white and the OD nowadays, when you can buy exotic fentanyl analogs on the Internet , I'd be strongly in favour of this hypothesis.
In 2002 ( less unknown analogs around; but fentanyls were also less tested) and with brown stuff ( usually is white), it's less likely but still pretty possible.

A step to investigate my ipotesis is to get information about the drug scene in Oakland in 2002. There was fentanyl around?

 

[tacodude]

Fentanyl laced dope can look brown... I'm sure there is at least one case of fentanyl laced black tar

 

[ZolsiaB]

This make no sense.
He was addicted, so he had to have some trace of opiates in his fluids.
Plus, how it is possible that there was nothing in the syringe?

He was clean for about 3 months before he passed away, this was a relapse for him. So it wasn't in his system bc he had been clean before that. I'm trying to get information about the oakland drug scene in 2002, but it's been hard finding out the information. I have found some statistics that said that most of the drug activity in oakland was about 10 blocks from where he was living at the time. The next things I'm trying to find out is where he got his drugs and what kind of drugs were circulating at the time.

I know, it's so incredibly bizarre that there was nothing found in the syringe, that is part of my confusion and frustration with this. that's really interesting about the fentanyl possibly being missed in the tests. I'm in the process of getting in contact with some of his friends who were using with him at the time so I can better understand his drug preferences and habits.

I think you are right that figuring out more about the oakland drug scene in 2002 and the prevalence of fentanyl. i didn't know that it might not show up in a test back then. Thank you very much. I really really appreciate it.

 

[ZolsiaB]

Sorry to say, but it is an obvious case of heroin overdose. It's really sad you had to lose your brother at such a young age. I do hope you're able to share his story and stop others from overdosing or finally getting "opiate overdose" as a cause of death as even to this day they will say respritory depression caused the death even if it was only caused due to the heroin overdose. I wish you the best and am sorry I couldn't give you a better response.

Edit: did they not test the brown liquid residue on the spoon? I'm sure it was heroin especially as he was living in Oakland

Hi, thank you so much for responding.

The weird part is that the toxicology report showed no drugs of alcohol in his system. Even if his official death was respiratory depression instead of opiate overdose wouldn't drugs still show up in the toxicology report? I have tons of work to do on this and a lot of things to figure out from here. The stuff about fentanyl is a good lead and also figuring out more about drugs in oakland at the time.

And no they never tested the "brown substance" which is really frustrating. I spoke with an investigator at the coroners office today and they said they only typically test the syringe and that they probably never even sent the "brown substance" to the lab because they assumed they didn't need to and the syringe and autopsy would be enough. It seems like a mistake or laziness on their part to be honest.

 

[tacodude]

Do you really think he overdosed or maybe it was set up that way and he was murdered as someone suggested? Some things do sound fishy, but even I think it's just an overdose

 

[Felonious Monk]

^that's important. if you're suggesting you think something else is going on then it does seem like there's reason for that. but if you just want the specifics of heroin overdose we should be having a slightly different conversation (less conspiratorial), though either way it's weird that no heroin was found anywhere....

Fentanyl laced dope can look brown... I'm sure there is at least one case of fentanyl laced black tar

but fentanyl-"laced" dope would still have heroin in it, especially laced tar.


You'll have trouble finding out much about the scene unless you go there, and probably it would be tough even then. What I've learned/figured out oakland is it's a big port town so people are moving through a lot, even moreso than many other places because of it's secondary nature to San Fran, transportation connections up and down the west coast and into the western states, WW2 history, California history, and most specifically, the up and down gentrification and development of the East Bay.

Basically what I'm trying to say is that pre-2002 Oakland was a totally different place as it is today, and where he lived and who he knew would have been important--but there's always been readily available heroin there, real heroin.

 

[Tinker55]

Plus , depending on how long before autopsy, tissue and blood samples can be non-reactive. Lab techniques have advanced light years in the last 14 years.

 

[George27]

I spoke with an investigator at the coroners office today and they said they only typically test the syringe and that they probably never even sent the "brown substance" to the lab because they assumed they didn't need to and the syringe and autopsy would be enough. It seems like a mistake or laziness on their part to be honest.

Another idea is to ask for the toxology report and see if they they have looked for fentanyl.
I've done some research , it's not always looked for.
But probably they did at least when they did find heroin, my idea is an exotic analog ( there are countless)

 

[George27]

but fentanyl-"laced" dope would still have heroin in it, especially laced tar.

OD+syringe+unknow substance really point to fentanyl, is a straighforward idea
But yes, brown stuff with no heroin is disturbing, do not fit in the pictures. Still possible ( maybe sold as heroin, brown because faking it ), but less convincing

 

[George27]

depending on how long before autopsy, tissue and blood samples can be non-reactive

I've done some research on the net.
They say that over the time, like 10 hours, fentanyl migrate from fat tissue to watery fluids.
So, post-mortem, the level in blood and urine. This happen in the living body too, for all lipophilic drugs

 

[My3sons]

Is it possible that he was clean prior to the overdose? Perhaps when one passes the drugs can't fully move through the body in order to create the metabolites he was tested for? Make sense? My bro overdosed too. He was 25

 

[George27]

when one passes off, the body can't create the metabolites.
If the coronor tests only for them, it fails to detect, through the metabolites, the parent drug

For example, you do not get the morphine from the codeine.
Your point is pretty remarkable!

 

[666ras]

I'd wager that it was an error on the coroners part. Or maybe, since the scene made it so glaringly obvious and no one was asking for alternative scenarios, that they simply didn't bother doing the testing, and since they had no results to report, just said "no cause of death found". Because given that situation the way you describe it, i can't see how someone would pass away like that, and have the paraphernalia come up negative for any controlled substances.

My only other guess is maybe he had used a synthetic that they weren't testing for yet.

 

[MrRoot]

I was in Oakland during fall 2001 and summer 2002 as an exchange student and I remember some party guys telling me what is available in the area if I happened to have an urge to try "new stuff". They told me about new super duper stuff sold as China White and I should be careful with that shit as it is really strong and strength might vary much depending from who I bought and even when I bought the stuff.

Back then cannabis and alcohol sometimes mixed with clonazepam or alprazolam was enough for me but China White definately was available in Oakland area.

It is truly sad that so many leave this world too young due their bad choices even when they weren't thinking that wat they do might kill them. We need more information about how tolerance changes after a break from opiates so none would OD after being sober and relapsing. Heck I nearly OD'ed yesterday after few months break from oxycodone...

 

[PriestTheyCalledHim]

I'm sorry that your brother died. My condolences to your family and his friends. It does sound like a heroin overdose, or an overdose from a synthetic opiate based on what you posted. A LOT of people overdose when they relapse after getting clean since they have no tolerance and then start using like they were when they had a tolerance. Or it also happens to experienced people who have a tolerance, and use the drug often.

Either the coroner made an error, or he or she might have figured that your family already knew your brother had an addiction to opiates and how he was found and left it blank for that reason, even though he or she should have listed a cause of death.

 

[Oakstone]

Depending on what he was using, would it be possible that, since it was two days later, it had been completely changed into inactive metabolites or something similar?
If that isn't the case, I'd probably agree with the idea that it was simply a drug they weren't aware to test for at the time.

 

[tacodude]

It's possible if m they didn't test fit inactive metabolites and only active metabolites, but without more info it is all speculation and will never lead to an answer. I hate to tell you, but you may never know. I just hope you can't find comfort knowing he is at peace and live on knowing he wouldn't want to hold you back especially with his death.

If you need support definitely post you in TDS or other board areas that are more personal vs drug & harm reduction discussion. Send me a PM if you ever want to talk or ask something more direct. I like many members are around.

 

[George27]

I was in Oakland during fall 2001 and summer 2002 as an exchange student.. They told me about new super duper stuff sold as China White and I should be careful with that shit as it is really strong

So now we know for shure that in 2002 there was fenatyl around.
Oakland coroners should have files about 2002 analysis of seized CW