1. Forensics Pathology
Mr. Davis

2. Vocabulary algor mortis the cooling of the body after death.
autolysis the spontaneous breakdown of cells as they self-digest.
cause of death the immediate reason for a person’s death (such as heart attack, kidney failure).
death the cessation, or end, of life.

3. decomposition the process of rotting and breaking down.
forensic entomology the study of insects as they pertain to legal issues.
instar one of the three larval stages of insect development.
larva (plural larvae) immature form of an animal that undergoes metamorphosis (for example, a maggot).
livor mortis the pooling of the blood in tissues after death resulting in a reddish color to the skin.
manner of death one of four means by which someone dies (i.e., natural, accidental, suicidal, or homicidal).

4. mechanism of death the specific body failure that leads to death.
pupa (plural pupae) the stage in an insect’s life cycle when the larva forms a capsule around itself and changes into its adult form.
rigor mortis the stiffening of the skeletal muscles after death.

5. Vocabulary
Marbling (Skin discoloration) occurs as a result of protein decomposition. Sulfur compounds combine with hemoglobin and lend a brown color to veins and the skin. This begins in the abdomen and ultimately spreads. Sulfurous odors (like rotten eggs) are evident.

6. Vocabulary
 A mortician prepares bodies of the deceased for burial or cremation. Being a mortician isn't an easy job. It's one that requires long hours and late-night phone calls.

7. Mortuary - a funeral home or morgue, relating to burial or tombs.
Postmortem - an examination of a dead body to determine the cause of death.
Corpse -  dead body, especially of a human being rather than an animal.

8. A medical examiner is an official trained in pathology that investigates deaths that occur under unusual or suspicious circumstances, to perform post- mortem examinations, and in some jurisdictions to initiate inquests.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC

9. Medical Examiner
A medical examiner's duties may vary depending on location. The medical examiners’ job is usually extensive and has a lot that goes into it. Typically, a medical examiner's duties may include:
investigating human organs like the stomach, liver, brain,
determining cause of death,
examining the condition of the body
studying tissue, organs, cells, and bodily fluids
issuing death certificates,
maintaining death records,
responding to deaths in mass disasters,
working closely with law enforcement
identifying unknown dead, or
performing other functions depending on local law.

12. Question 1: Manner of Death
There are four ways a person can die, referred to in official terms as the Manner of Death: natural death, accidental death, suicidal death, and homicidal death. A fifth manner of death, undetermined, perhaps should be added because it is occasionally the official cause recorded on a death certificate.
Natural death is caused by interruption and failure of body functions resulting from age or disease. This is the most common manner of death.
Accidental death is caused by unplanned events, such as a car accident or falling from a ladder.

13. Manner of Death
3. Suicide occurs when a person purposefully kills oneself, whether by hanging, drug overdose, gunshot, or some other method.
4. A Homicide is the death of one person caused by another person.
5. Sometimes it is difficult to determine if the manner of death was a suicide or an accidental death. Did the person deliberately take an overdose of pills, or was it an accident? Did a person mean to shoot himself, or was it a mistake? In some cases, the coroner cannot make this determination and marks

14. Question 2: Cause and Mechanism of Death
Causes include: disease, physical injury, stroke, & Heart Attack
Homicidal causes: bludgeoning, shooting, burning, drowning, strangulation, hanging, & suffocation.
Mechanism of Death: describes the specific change in the body that cause the cessation of life.

16. Cause and Mechanism of Death
The reason someone dies is called the Cause of Death. Disease, physical injury, stroke, and heart attack can all cause death. Examples of causes of death by homicide include bludgeoning, shooting, burning, drowning, strangulation, hanging, and suffocation.
“Proximate cause of Death”? It refers to an underlying cause of death, as opposed to the final cause. If someone is exposed to large amounts of radiation and then develops cancer, the proximate cause of death is the radiation exposure.
Mechanism of death describes the specific change in the body that brought about the cessation of life. For example, if the cause of death is shooting, the mechanism of death might be loss of blood, exsanguination, or it might be the cessation of brain function. If the cause of death is a heart attack, the mechanism of death is the heart stopping to beat or pulmonary arrest
Cause and Mechanism of Death

17. Example of Mechanism of Death
Most recent condition – due to or as a consequence of coronary bypass surgery
Next oldest condition – rupture of the heart’s lining due to tissue death
Oldest condition – coronary artery disease

18. Forensic Pathology

19. Question 3: Body Changes after Death
STAGE 1: Stoppage
Heart stops, blood is no longer pumped, delivery of Oxygen & Glucose stops triggering cell death.
Lack of Oxygen & Glucose means there is no cellular energy
Cellular respiration converts to anaerobic respiration building up Lactic Acid
Toxic waste accumulate increasing in Lactic Acid and lowering the pH levels of cells causing membrane rupture.

20. Question 3: Body Changes after Death
STAGE 2: Autolysis (Cell Self-Digestion)
Cellular Demolition
Cell enzyme are released inside of cell causing cells to break down and rupture the cell membrane, destroying cells.

21. Question 4: Algor Mortis - Death Heat
The Chill of Death
Algor Mortis-Describes temperature loss in a corpse
Rate of loss influenced by environmental conditions
Exterior temps
Clothes vs no clothes ect…
First 12 hours.
Temperature loss = .78 degrees Celsius (1.4 degrees Fahrenheit) per hour
After 12 hours
Temperature loss = .39 degrees Celsius (.7 degrees Fahrenheit) per hour

22. Question 4: Algor Mortis - Death Heat
Factors (Ambient Temperatures, clothing, air currents).
Cooler Environments – body loses heat faster.
Wind – heat loss will occur faster (Heat loss 1 degree F per hour).
Forensics Investigators insert a thermometer into the liver to measure body temperature.

26. Question 5: LIVOR MORTIS
Livor mortis means, roughly, death color. As a body begins to decompose, blood seeps down through the tissues and settles into the lower parts of the body. The red blood cells begin to break down, spilling their contents. Hemoglobin, the substance in red blood cells that carries oxygen and gives blood its red color, turns purple when it spills out of the cells. This purplish color is visible on parts of the skin wherever the blood pools. The process of livor mortis takes time.

27. Livor Mortis
Pooling of blood in the body, known as lividity, provides a clue as to how long the person has been dead. Lividity first begins about two hours after death. The discoloration becomes permanent after eight hours.
If death occurred between two and eight hours, lividity will be present, but if the skin is pressed, the color will disappear.
After eight hours, if the skin is pressed, the lividity will remain. The ambient temperature at which a person dies impacts the time it takes for lividity in set in.
If the corpse is left outside on a hot, summer day, livor mortis takes place at a faster rate. If the body is left in a cool room, livor mortis is slower. This is why it is so important to record the environmental conditions surrounding a dead body.

28. As body begins to decompose blood seeps down through tissues and settles in lower parts of body
Red Blood Cells Turn purplish-blue
Pooling of blood = lividity
Lividity Begins about 2 hours after death
Between 2-8 hours lividity will be present, but if the skin is pressed color will disappear
After 8 hours lividity remains if the skin is pressed
Ambient Temperature = Temperature surrounding body
affects the rate of lividity
Higher Temperature = Increase in rate of lividity
Lower Temperature = Decrease in rate of lividity

29. The Body Farm

31. Question 6: Rigor Mortis

32. Rigor Mortis
The body muscles contract and make the body stiff, starts a few hours after death & continues up to 24 hours.
Rigor Mortis starts in the head and works its way down to the legs, it takes 12 hrs. to reach a “Rigid State.”
Body stiffness disappears after 36 hrs. to 48 Hrs.
Rigor Mortis occurs because skeletal muscles are unable to relax and remain contracted & hard.

33. Rigor Mortis

34. Rigor Mortis The body is at its most rigid state Just over 2 hours
Observation
The body is at its most rigid state
No visible signs of rigor
Stiffness generally disappears
Approx. Time Scale
Just over 2 hours
Less than 2 hours
or more than 48 hours ago
After 36 hours

35. Factors Affecting Rate of Rigor
Ambient Temperature
Cold- slows rigor
Warm- Accelerates Rigor
Clothing or Lack of Clothing
Clothes = accelerates rigor
No Clothes = slows rigor
Sun Exposure
Accelerates rigor
Activity/Exercise
Exercising or struggling = accelerates rigor
Sleep = slows rigor
Body Weight
Obese- slows rigor (fat stores oxygen)
Thin- Accelerates Rigor

37. Question 7: Autopsy
Conducted when someone dies as a result of a crime or under unusual conditions. The medical examination must determine the cause of death.
Autopsies include: wound examinations, wound depth, path of bullet, Number of wounds, and defensive or offensive wounds.

38. Question 7: Autopsy

39. Question 7: Two types of Autopsies
Clinical Autopsy
Done for medical research to study the purpose of death
Forensic Autopsy
Performed when foul play is suspected
2 parts of Forensic Autopsy
External examination
Internal examination

41. Question 7: Autopsy
Autopsy procedures begin when a body is received, typically by a hospital morgue or a medical examiner’s office.
For example, the corpse’s hands are bagged to preserve evidence, such as blood under the fingernails and gunshot residue.
The body is covered and transported in a new body bag or evidence sheet to reduce the possibility of evidence contamination during transport.

42. Question 7: Autopsy
At the morgue, the pathologist and any assistants or observers wear gowns, gloves and face shields to protect themselves from potential infection and to avoid contaminating evidence.
Notes and photographs are taken at each step.
An X-ray is taken of the body, which preserves evidence of fractures and the location of any bullets.
The pathologist examines and photographs the body in the clothes in which it arrived. Evidence, such as gunshot residue, hair samples and fibers, is collected and preserved.
Once the evidence is collected, the body is undressed and examined carefully for wounds and external abnormalities.

43. For example, tiny dots of blood under the eyelids are a sign of petechial hemorrhage, which indicates the person may have suffocated while trying to breathe against resistance.
Once the examination is complete, the body is cleaned, weighed and measured, and all identifying features, such as sex, race, eye color, hair type/color, apparent age, scars, tattoos and birthmarks, are noted.
At this point, blood, oral fluid and tissue samples may be taken for toxicological analysis.

44. Stages of an Autopsy An autopsy takes the form of six stages:
Y-Incision
Removal of Organs
Stomach Contents
Sample Collection
Head and Brain examination
Conclusion

45. Y-Incision
The Y-Incision is the procedure used by the pathologist to open up the breastplate of the deceased and gain access to the body's major organs; heart, lungs, liver, stomach, spleen etc.
This incision is so called because it resembles the shape of the letter Y and is cut from either shoulder to the lower end of the sternum and then downwards in a straight line over the abdomen to the pubis.

46. Removal of Organs
After the Y-Incision has been made all of the organs are removed and weighed. This is done because certain types of illness can cause a reduction or increase in the weight of organs such as the heart and/or the lungs. Most times when removed these organs are removed in one unit but sometimes - depending on trauma to the body - are removed in a specific sequence. Blood samples are taken, samples for DNA testing (as and when necessary but not necessary in all autopsies), and toxicological tests are carried out on the heart for signs of poisoning if no physical injuries have manifested themselves

47. Head and Brain Examination
Once these procedures have been completed the pathologist will then turn his or her attention to the head area. The first thing they will do is look for signs of head injury, which should have been visible during both external examinations. Sometimes however head trauma cannot be visible simply by sight alone. The pathologist makes a triangular incision across the top of the scalp to reveal the brain and first of all examines it inside the head. Then once this has been completed satisfactorily the brain is removed for a more thorough inspection and also for tissue samples to be taken. 

48. Question 8: Stomach and Intestinal Contents
If undigested stomach contents are present, then death occurred 0 to 2 hours after last meal
If the stomach is empty but food is found in the small intestine, then death occurred at least 4-6 hours after last meal
If the small intestines is empty and wastes are found in large intestine, then death probably occurred 12 or more hours after last meal

49. Question 9: Postmortem Changes in the Eye
Surface of the eye dries out
A cloudy film is observed within 2-3 hrs.
Potassium accumulates inside the eye
“Petechiae” pin point hemorrhages found around the eyes

50. Postmortem Changes in the Eye

51. Question 10: Stages of Decomposition
Initial Decay
Corpse appears normal from the outside, but is starting to decompose from the actions of bacteria and autolysis
Putrefaction
Odor of decaying flesh is present and the corps e appears swollen
Black Putrefaction
Very Strong odor. Parts of the flesh appear black. Gases escape and the corpse collapses
Butyric Fermentation
Corpse is beginning to try out. Most of the flesh is gone
Dry Decay
Corpse is almost dry. Further decay is very slow from lack of moisture

52. Question 10: Stages of Decomposition
A corpse decomposes in predictable ways over time that can help examiners judge when death occurred:
STAGE 1 – “Initial Decay”
Within two days after death:
Cell autolysis begins following death.
Green and purplish staining occurs from blood decomposition.
The skin takes on a marbled appearance.
The face becomes discolored.
STAGE 2 – “Bloating”
After four days:
The skin blisters.
The abdomen swells with the gas carbon dioxide that is released by bacteria living in the intestines.

53. Stages of Decomposition
STAGE 3 – “Active Decay”
Within six to ten days:
The corpse bloats with carbon dioxide as bacteria continue to feed on tissues. Eventually, the gas causes the chest and abdominal cavities to burst and collapse. Fluids begin to leak from the body openings as cell membranes rupture.
Eyeballs and other tissues liquefy.
The skin sloughs off.

58. Decomposition The rotting or break down of all tissues and organs
Bacteria and other microorganisms aid the decomposition process, just as they decompose plants and animals in the environment.
Occurs in Predictable Pattern
Can be used to help determine Time of Death

62. Timeline of Events during Decomposition
Within 2 days after death:
Cell Autolysis begins following death
Green and purplish staining occurs form blood decomposition
The skin takes on a marbled appearance
The Face Becomes discolored
After 4 Days:
The skin blisters
The abdomen swells with the gas carbon dioxide release by bacteria living in the intestines
Within 6-10 Days:
Corpse bloats with carbon dioxide, eventually gas causes the chest and abdominal cavities to burst and collapse
Fluids begin to leak from body openings as cell membranes rupture
Eyeball and other tissues liquefy
The Skin sloughs off

63. Factors Affecting Rate of Decomposition
Temperature
Bodies decompose fastest within degrees Celsius (70-99 degrees Fahrenheit)
Below this range rate decreases because cold temperatures slow the growth of bacteria and microorganisms
Above this range tends to dry out corpses and preserve them
Several other factors
Illness
Age
Weight
Clothing or Lack of Clothing