Autopsy
Autopsy is the process of determining how someone died. There are many reasons why one requires an autopsy, one of them is understanding why the person died. This helps you understand when he or she died, and how they die. If they were stabbed or poisoned or if it was some sort of illness or a family genetic illness. An autopsy is preformed on for different reasons like any organ, heart or brain or more broad examination. It all begins with a full external examination, the height and weight are marked, and also they are looking for scars and tattoos. The interior assessment starts with a Y or U- shaped incision from both shoulders joining over the sternum and continuing down to the pubic bone. First, pictures are taken and the body is documented. Nothing goes without notice,from their hair, fingernails,and fibers. If it is a homicide investigation the hands of the deceased will be placed in bags at the scene. When someone gets an autopsy they are usually dead, or one of their organs are being examined.
Autopsy Process
It always depends on what you have get an autopsy you can get it on any organ, heart or brain or more broad examination. It all begins with a full external examination, the height and weight are marked, and also they are looking for scars and tattoos. The interior assessment starts with a Y our U- shaped incision from both shoulders joining over the sternum and continuing down to the pubic bone. The skin and underlying tissues are then separated to expose the rib cage and abdominal cavity. The front of the rib cage is taken off to reveal the neck and chest organs, allowing the trachea (windpipe), thyroid gland, parathyroid glands, esophagus, heart, thoracic aorta and lungs to be detached. After the neck and chest organs are removed the abdominal organs are dissected. These include the intestines, liver, gallbladder and bile duct system, pancreas, spleen, adrenal glands, kidneys, ureters, urinary bladder, abdominal aorta, and reproductive organs. When you remove the brain you need to make an incision starting at the back of the skull from one ear to another. The scalp is cut and separated from the underlying skull and pulled forward. A vibrating saw removes the top of the skull, then the entire brain is smoothly lifted out of the cranial vault. If you remove the anterior or posterior portion of the spinal column you can remove the spinal cord. The pathologist first inspects the organs to see if there visible changes. If there are any visible changes with the organs, it could be atherosclerosis, cirrhosis of the liver, and coronary artery disease in the heart. After every organ is removed from the body they are usually individually dissected for any tumors or abnormalities. Small samples are taken from the organs for inspections under a microscope. At the end of a autopsy the body is stitched back together and the organs can either be placed to where they originally were of kept and used for teaching, research, and diagnostic purposes.[1]
Preparation for the Autopsy
The first thing that happens is the medical examiner receives a body in a body bag or evidence sheet. This body is then sent to the morgue to be refrigerated until they start the autopsy. Every body has a new bag so that everything that comes with that body stays in the bag and it’s not someone else’s stuff from a previous body. The evidence sheets can be an alternative way to transport the body. They use new sheets every time just like the body bag. Then they are sent to the examination suite where the diener delivers the body, the diener is the morgue employee who is in charge of moving, cleaning, and sometimes assisting with the autopsy. Before you do anything you have to take pictures and document everything. Nothing goes without notice, their hair, fingernails, fibers, nothing goes unnoticed. If it is a homicide investigation the hands of the deceased will be placed in bags at the scene. The examiner will open the bag and not all the residue and fingernail samples, the bags are removed and with all the samples given back as evidence. Certain cases a UV radiation is used to increase secretions on their clothes or skin. If there is a special need for it the autopsy crew will x-ray the whole body bag. This is an important step. Dr Kiesel explains why: "I had a body the other day where the person had been shot. The body came in, we shot an X-ray through the body bag, we took the body out of the body bag, we did the autopsy and we found all the bullets except for one -- couldn't find it. Well, it was still in the body bag. It was actually through and underneath the body. So [on the X-ray] it looked like it was still in the body even though it wasn't." After the body is cleaned, they weight, and measure the body. The table that the autopsy is being preformed on is usually slanted with raised edges and lots of drains for all the blood during the autopsy. The body is faced upward on a body block so that the patient’s chest is raised and the arms and neck fall back. It’s easier for them to cut open the chest. At this point they are able to start identifying everything like the race, sex, hair color and length, eye color, approximate age, and any identifying features like scars, tattoos, birthmarks, etc. then they use a handheld voice recorder or a exam form to record all the abnormalities of the body and send in the reports. Dr. Kiesel describes the wrapping up of the external examination: "We usually separate out into different categories our general description from our evidence of trauma, from our evidence of medical intervention. We'll get a blood sample ... we begin to collect some specimens for toxicology [the study of the effects of chemicals on the human body] ... [and] then we'll open the body".[2]
Why an Autopsy is necessary
There are many reasons why you would have an autopsy, here are some reasons why. You need an autopsy for medical information about the death of the person. There are many advantages to autopsy’s, it gives comprehensive information on the persons physical condition and will give an understanding of the many different factors that might have contributed to there death. Sometimes the cause of death is very obvious but the person might have had a medical condition that wasn’t obvious during the person’s life. An autopsy is very important since it tells the persons family what the cause of death was. If the persons who is getting the autopsy and the medical crew finds out they died from an infection or a genetic illness the autopsy can offer priceless information for the other family members. An autopsy is one of the only sensibly assured processes of determining why the person died. Even thought the autopsy process is one of the best ways of understanding and determining the cause of death, there can be uncommon cases that the autopsy cannot supply the cause of death.[3]
Video
- If you have a weak stomach DO NOT watch. This is a video of someone having an autopsy so there is blood, organs being ripped out, and other disturbing things. Other than that its very interesting how they actually perform an autopsy.**
References
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