Vocab
What is adipocere?
A fatty or waxy substance produced during the decomposition of dead bodies exposed to moisture
An elected official, either a layman or a physician, who certifies deaths and can order additional investigations of suspicious deaths.
What is mechanism of death?
The specific physiological, physical, or chemical event that stops life.
What is putrefaction?
The destruction of soft tissue by bacteria that results in the release of waste gases and fluids.
Explain the predictable sequence of changes that occur during the process of death, including algor, rigor, and livor mortis.
The first stage is pallor mortis, where the skin pales due to blood pooling. The second stage is algor mortis, where the body cools over time. The third stage is rigor mortis, where muscles stiffen and contract. The fourth stage is livor mortis, where areas of pooled blood begin to take on a bruised-like discoloration.
What is algor mortis?
The cooling of the body after death.
What is decomposition?
The breakdown of once-living matter
What is medicolegal death investigators?
Medical professionals used to provide evidence on medical and legal issues.
The stiffening of the skeletal muscles after death.
Describe the chemical and physical changes that occur during the stages if decomposition, and how they provide evidence in the examination of death.
As the brain begins to decompose, which generally occurs over a time course of days, it liquefies and eventually reaches a paste- or fluid-like consistency
What is autolysis?
The breakdown of cells as they self-digest
Whatis forensic pathologist?
A medical doctor specifically trained to perform autopsies to determine the presence of absence of disease, injury, or poisoning.
What is a medical examiner?
Explain the forensic importance of examining death, and the role of the coroner, medical examiner, and pathologist in death investigations.
Their role is to decide the scope and course of a death investigation, which includes examining the body, determining whether to perform an autopsy, and ordering x-ray, toxicology, or other laboratory tests.
A medical examination to determine the cause of death.
What is Liver mortis?
The pooling of the blood in tissues after death due to gravity that results in a red skin color.
What is petechial hemorrhages?
Describe how the examination of death in early history compares to our approach today.
In early history examination of death was complicated since we didn't have the right materials. Now it's easier.
The injury, condition, or disease responsible for a person's death.
What is manner of death?
One of 5 ways in which a person's death is classified.
What is proximate cause of death?
The underlying cause of death that leads to the certification of the death.
Discuss manner, cause, and mechanism of death, and how death itself is defined by experts.
The mechanism of death is the physiological derangement that results in the death.