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In my crime thriller, one of my characters is killed while recovering from a subdural hematoma in the hospital. What kind of poison could be injected into her IV that would cause her organs to shut down and for her to die but that wouldn't render her unconscious. She should still be able to speak, before expiring? This poison shouldn't immediately show up on an autopsy but could be something a smart ME would find.

Hollie Overton
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    If the autopsy finds organs that shut down, people will know that something went wrong somewhere. People really don't have to know what killed someone in the case of murder, just that someone is dead of unnatural causes and then they find out who would do it. Only plausible way to hide it is to make it look like something natural. – A. C. A. C. Dec 07 '17 at 00:06
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    Please can you explain how this question relates to wolrd building? – Slarty Dec 07 '17 at 00:09
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    What does this question have to do with worldbuilding? (It's a valid question, but in the wrong location!) – elemtilas Dec 07 '17 at 00:14
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    Almost any medicine is poison if used inappropriately or in conjunction with certain other medications. This is really story building, though, not world building. Should probably be moved – pojo-guy Dec 07 '17 at 00:17
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    This question is on topic: see https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/66425/does-anyone-know-of-a-poison-that-can-be-ingested-and-is-undetectable-in-autopsy; https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/32269/are-there-any-real-world-ingested-poisons-with-these-characteristics; this question is similar to those, but appears to have added constraints so it is not a duplicate. – kingledion Dec 07 '17 at 01:12
  • To those of you upset about my posting in the wrong space, apologies. To everyone else, thanks for your help! – Hollie Overton Dec 07 '17 at 02:47
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    Poisons in a hospital? Hit up the drug cabinet. I'm sure almost anything could be used... – Draco18s no longer trusts SE Dec 07 '17 at 04:05
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    @kingledion those questions are not on-topic. They are storybuilding, not worldbuilding questions. Even the setting is in this real world. – Vylix Dec 07 '17 at 07:49
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    @Vylix No offense buddy, but those questions were on topic before you had the rep to vote on closing questions. Why do you think that you know better, now? In law, you use precedent to see what is acceptable, you don't just make up the rules. You should follow the same approach. – kingledion Dec 07 '17 at 15:02
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    Nominating for re-opening, due to a precedent of such questions being valid for the site, and noted in my above comment. – kingledion Dec 07 '17 at 15:03
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    @kingledion what I've learnt is to never rely on old questions. Scope changes, and gets redefined from time to time. I suggest you open a meta to get this and the other question reopened – Vylix Dec 07 '17 at 18:04
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    @Vylix Consider the meta discussion here. – kingledion Dec 07 '17 at 18:08
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    I cast the fourth reopen vote, because I don't see how this is idea generation. I explained my rationale in my answer to the meta question @kingledion asked and linked. – HDE 226868 Dec 07 '17 at 19:51
  • Ah yes, another one of those beautiful "This will get everyone on the site on a watchlist" questions – Sydney Sleeper Jun 29 '18 at 10:37

2 Answers2

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Succinylcholine is a possible candidate. It's a powerful paralytic, commonly used in surgery, that metabolizes quickly and leaves only very slight traces. Looks like heart failure to a pathologist who isn't specifically looking for death by poison.

Being a paralytic, the person would remain conscious, but incapable of moving. In high doses, it paralyzes the diaphragm, and the person suffocates. In clinical use, high doses of succinylcholine are accompanied by a respirator to breathe for the patient.

Of course, that would leave the person incapable of speaking, so it misses that part of your scenario.

However... this is authentic. Sux (as it is offen abbreviated) has been used in a couple of murders by people who have been trained in it's use. Only recently has a test been developed to find succinylcholine in a murder victim.

tj1000
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Paracetamol in a high enough dosage causes the liver to shut down and can kill you in around a day or so. Most people take over the counter pain killers so unless the ME actually suspected poisoning by paracetamol, they wouldn't look for it.

You can even use lesser amounts to slowly destroy the liver over time.

See Acetaminophen Toxicity

Thorne
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  • If the liver shut down suddenly, standard blood work would pick up acetaminophen immediately, and would be one of the first things they'd check. Moreover, they'd pick it up before the patient actually died. Liver failure isn't something that sneaks up on you, and even if it killed you in a day it would be very obvious something was going wrong. – Keith Morrison Dec 09 '17 at 22:01