HPLC-DAD determination of mepivacaine in cerebrospinal fluid from a fatal case

A fatal case involving mepivacaine-induced epidural anesthesia is described. The pathological findings were typical of cardiac shock from ischemic origin. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was obtained several hours after death and mepivacaine was identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Its concentration was determined by high performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection (HPLC-DAD). Extraction from CSF was performed by deproteinization with acetonitrile. The mepivacaine concentration in the sample was 264 microg/mL. Concentrations of mepivacaine in CSF following epidural anesthesia are not reported in literature to our knowledge. This is the first reported case of death in which the mepivacaine concentration in CSF has been determined.     

The welfare courts: A socio-legal analysis of risk management through modern strict liability

The aim of the essay is to offer an adequate theoretical framework for a socio-legal analysis of risk management by the legal system. Law and risk are the two most important concepts to be clarified. Unlike the law, whose function consists in the temporal stabilisation of normative expectations, the perspective of risk is characterised by the possibility of changing the criteria for decisions based upon the evaluation of the consequences of those decisions. In the context of a modern society, characterised by an increasing demand for protection for people injured by new technologies, one observes certain difficulties in the attempt to adopt a risk perspective within the legal system. The result of this process is the new law of tort based upon the modern principles of strict liability. While strict liability can be shown to be effective in managing conflicts relating to technological accidents, its most negative effects are the increasing instability of legal structures and interference with the activities of other subsystems of society, such as medicine and the economy.     

The autonomy of law in the war on terror: A contribution from social systems theory

The article analyses the impact of post-2001 counterterrorism policies on the autonomy of law, focussing on American and British measures and adopting social systems theory as a theoretical framework. Contemporary societies are conceptualised as social systems in which law operates as an autonomous subsystem. Its autonomy primarily is based on constant reference by decisions to the binary coding “legal/illegal” associated with the application of specific legal principles and procedures. Following the terrorist attacks of 2001, the structure of societal differentiation has been under attack from a twofold risk. A political risk is posed by armed organisations such as Al-Qaeda because of their threats to states sovereignty. An additional risk in relation to law depends on extraordinary powers, such as those established by certain recent antiterrorism legislation and several executive provisions. States attempt to subordinate decisions related to the new counterterrorism policies to the test of their “efficiency/inefficiency” in guaranteeing security, at the expense of questions about their “legal/illegal” nature and legal constraints. An analysis of the special detention at Guantanamo Bay provides evidence of a complex set of decisions endangering the autonomy of law.