Death attributed to ethyl chloride

A young college student was found unresponsive, head down in his pillow with a metal canister containing ethyl chloride in or beside his right hand. Resuscitative efforts failed. Qualitative screening detected ethyl chloride in the vitreous fluid and antemortem and postmortem blood. Quantitation was carried out on available fluids with the following results: hospital blood, 20 mg/dL; postmortem blood, 65 mg/dL; and vitreous fluid, 41.7 mg/dL. No other drugs or volatiles were found. Death was subsequently attributed to an overdose or adverse reaction to this product.