Key terms
Adipocere
What is a fatty or waxy substance produced during the decomposition of dead bodies exposed to moisture
Algor Mortis
What is the cooling of the body after death
Autolysis
What is the breakdown of cells as they self - digest
Autopsy
What is a medical examination to determine the cause of death
Cause of Death
What is the injury, condition, or disease responsible for a persons death ( such as heart attack or kidney failure)
Coroner
What is an elected official, either a layman or a physician, who certifies deaths and can order additional investigators of suspicious deaths
Decomposition
What is the breakdown of once-living matter
Forensic Pathologist
What is a medical doctor specifically trained to perform autopsies to determine the presence or absence of disease, injury, or poisoning
Liver Mortis
What is the pooling of the blood in tissues after death due ti gravity that results in a red skin color
Manner of Death
What is one of five ways in which a persons death is classified (i.e., natural accidental, suicidal,homicidal, or undetermined)
Mechanism of Death
What is the specific physiological, physical, or chemical event that stops life
Mediological Death Investigators
What is the medical professionals used to provide evidence on medical and legal issues
Medical Examiner
What is a physician who performs autopsies, determines the cause and manner of death, and oversees death investigators
Petechial Hemorrhages
What is the red spots in the white of the eyes that form due to capillary rupture in blood vessels of the eye
Proximate Cause of Death
What is the underlying cause of death that leads to there certification of the death
Putrefaction
What is the destruction of soft tissue by bacteria that results in the release of waste gases ad fluids
Rigor Mortis
What is the stiffening of the skeletal muscles after death
12.1
Explain the forensic importance of examining death, and the role of the coroner, medical examiner, and pathologist in death investigations.
12.2
Describe how the examination of death in early history compares to our approach today.
12.3
Discuss manner, cause, and mechanism of death, and how ¨death¨ itself is defined by experts.
12.4
Explain the predictable sequence of changes that occur during the process of death, including algor, rigor, and livor mortis
12.5
Describe the chemical and physical changes the stages of decomposition, and how they provide evidence in the examination of death.