BODIES AND AUTOPSIES

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UNIT 11

• BODIES AND AUTOPSIES

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Benefits of Autopsy

• Discover cause of death for
• Criminal cases
• Family peace of mind
• Genetic disease or deformity
• Insurance claims
• Medical advancement

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Death and Autopsies

• Why an Autopsy?
• What warrants an Autopsy?
• Steps in Performing an Autopsy

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Why an Autopsy?

• Identifying dead bodies
• Determining Cause and Manner of death
• Home deaths
• Crime Scene deaths
• Vehicular accidents

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Identifying Dead Bodies

• Fingerprints
• AFIS
• Dental records
• Radiographs (X-rays)
• Dental charting
• Odontology
• Reconstructing the Unidentified
• Tattoos, scars
• Medial Imposition
• Medical procedures

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Facial Reconstruction

• Plastic 3 D reconstruction

• 2 dimensional reconstruction

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• Computerized programs for Facial Reconstruction

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What if this is all you have?
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• MEDIAL IMPOSITION

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Determine Cause and Manner of Death

• Cause of Death
• Medical reason for death
• Exsanguination
• Cardiac arrest
• Suffocation
• Drowning
• Many, many more

• Manner of Death (5 only)
• Natural
• Homicide
• Suicide
• Accident
• Undetermined

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What warrants an Autopsy

• Any suspicious death
• Unidentified remains
• No medical history or known physician
• Homicides
• Drownings
• Auto accidents
• Childrens deaths

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Performing an Autopsy
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Autopsy room and Equipment
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• Autopsy room and table

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Neck Block
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Instruments Used
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Tags Heart Needle
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Used to Collect Vitreous
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• Radiographs (X-rays)

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Organ Containers
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External Examination

• Trace Evidence
• Sign of injury or mistreatment
• Sign of illness, disease, or abnormalities

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• Rigor mortis
• Apparent 2 4 hrs after death
• Complete 12 18 after
• Disappears 48 hrs after
• Livor mortis
• Algor mortis

• Chemical change in muscles after death causing
  stiffness
• Post mortem lividity
• Cooling of the body following death ROT 1.5
  degrees per hour

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Trunk
Dissection

• Y-shaped incision
• From the shoulders to the pelvic bone
• This incision is deep enough to go through skin,
  fat, and muscle layers into the cavities of the
  body

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Opening the Chest

• Skin muscle, are pulled from the chest wall
• Chest Plate is extracted
• Heart is extracted

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Removal and Dissection of the Organs

• Usually one organ at a time
• All body organs at once - Rokitansky Method
• Upon removal each organ is
• Weighed measured
• Examined
• Sliced in cross sections
• Sampled for microscopic chemical analysis

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Samples are labeled
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Running the Gut

• The contents of the stomach, intestines, and
  bowels must be inspected as well

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Removing the Brain

• The Scalp is cut ear to ear across the crown of
  the head

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Exposing the Skull

• Next the scalp is pulled forward and back to
  expose the skull

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Exposing the Brain

• Two methods of cutting the skull cap

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Removal of the Brain

• Spinal Cord is cut
• Brain is removed
• Brain is so soft it must be placed in formalin
  for about a week before an in- depth examination

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Close

• Skull cap is replaced
• Skin pulled back in place
• Body Organs may or may not be replaced
• Incisions are sown up with the use of a baseball
  stitch

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Baseball Stitch
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Autopsy Forms Completed