the dead

Question 1

Give purposes of identifying the dead

Answer 1

Civil law (estates etc.)
Social - closure for families
Assessment of injuries - eg transport accidents

Question 2

How would you determine the sex of a body

Answer 2

sexual organs

Pelvis and skull shape

Question 3

how would you determine the age of a body

Answer 3

child less ossification/ have more epiphyses
Adult - fully ossify by 25
Examine teeth

Question 4

how would you determine stature

Answer 4

Height taken from ankles

individual bones eg. hemur

Question 5

give examples of comparative methods

Answer 5

feautres such as hairstyle, eye colour, facial hair etc

tattoos

Question 6

give examples of useful medical information to identify the dead

Answer 6

surgical procedures, prostheses, gallstones, arthritis, deformities

Question 7

What personal identification methods can be used

Answer 7

Fingerprints - criminal record/ possessions
Dental records
DNA profiling - hair, toothbrush, guthrie card

Question 8

Define death

Answer 8

The irreversible failure of the cardiovascular system

Question 9

What causes circulating blood to become stagnant

Answer 9

Gravity

Question 10

When is the best opportunity for timing of death

Answer 10

first 18 hours

Question 11

What is the mainstay way of determining time of death

Answer 11

Body temperature in first 12 hours - rate of body cooling follows a sigmoid shaped curve
rule of thumb - 1 degree an hour

Question 12

Why can’t the rate at which the stomach empties be used to measure time of death?

Answer 12

Too many factors influence rate eg. amount of food, solid vs liquids, stress, medications

Question 13

What is rigor mortis

Answer 13

stiffening and shortening of muscle fibres leading to rigidity of the musculature and fixation of the joints
due to reduction of ATP
Becomes apparent 5-7 hours after death, fully established after 12

Question 14

What is putrefaction

Answer 14

caused by bacterial micro-organisms
2-3 days - greenish discoloration of skin
1 week - blister formation

Question 15

define mummification

Answer 15

Process of dry decomposition, with desiccation of the body

particularly prone in infants

Question 16

Define adipocere formation

Answer 16

Induced by the alteration of fatty tissue within the body into a greasy, waxy or brittle material which frequently remains attatched to the bony skeleton and may retain the body structure to some extent
tends to occur in damp/ wet environments

Question 17

Define skeletonisation

Answer 17

The condition when all of the soft tissue of the body has completely degraded

Question 18

What does post mortem hypostasis represent

Answer 18

The pooling of stagnant blood in dependent regions of the body under the influence of gravity
Begins as soon as circulation of blood ceases but takes around 1-2 hours to become visable

Question 19

What will happen to the body surface where pressure has been applied

Answer 19

Compression of the blood vessels, preventing ingress of blood, demonstarted by areas of ‘pressure pallor’ within hypostasis.

Question 20

What is useful about post mortem hypostasis

Answer 20

help in ascertaining the position of the body after death and can indicate if the body has been moved after death

Question 21

What can the colour of hypostasis tell

Answer 21

usually pink/ purple in colour
‘cherry red’ - indicator of carbon monoxide poisoning
‘red brown’ - may be seen with methaemoglobin (caused by certain chemicals or drugs)

Question 22

Define post mortem artefacts

Answer 22

alteration or damage to the bodcesses occuring in lifewhich may mimic genuine processes occuring in life

Question 23

Give examples of post mortem artefacts

Answer 23

resuscitation
animal predation
traumatic injury eg run over after death,