DEAD ON ARRIVAL

PART ONE: CAUSE AND MECHANISM

THE CAUSE OF DEATH  The reason the individual died  Examples:  Gun Shot Wound  Heart Attack  Skull Fracture

MECHANISM OF DEATH  The actual physiological change that causes life to end  Examples:  Bleeding to death  Sepsis (infection enters blood)  Direct Trauma to the brain  Bleeding into the brain

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE  Cause is the BECAUSE  Mechanism is the HOW  Examples:  Bled to death BECAUSE of a gun shot wound

EXAMPLE  A man is struck by an intoxicated driver’s car and severely injured. The paramedics arrive and transport him to the hospital, where he bleeds internally and dies as a result of his injuries.  Cause?  Mechanism?

 Cause:  Severe Injuries from car accident  Mechanism:  Bled to death

IN YOUR OWN WORDS:  What’s the difference between mechanism and cause?

WHEN CONFRONTED WITH DEATH:

QUESTIONS TO ANSWER:  How and why did the events take place?

QUESTIONS TO ANSWER:  Who or what initiated the events and with what intention?

QUESTIONS TO ANSWER:  Was the death caused by the victim, another person, an unfortunate occurrence, or mother nature?

THE FOUR MANNERS OF DEATH  Natural:  The biological side- the death is caused by natural disease  Examples:  Heart Attack  Cancer  Pneumonia

THE FOUR MANNERS OF DEATH  Accidental:  Result from an unplanned and unforeseeable series of events  Examples:  Falling from a ladder  Automobile Accidents  In-home electrocutions

THE FOUR MANNERS OF DEATH  Suicidal:  Suicides are deaths caused by the dead’s own hand  Examples:  Gunshot wound  Drug Overdose

THE FOUR MANNERS OF DEATH  Homicidal:  Deaths that occur by the hand of someone other than the dead person

WHICH MANNER OF DEATH?  Officers respond to a call from a neighbor hearing gunshot wounds. They arrive on the scene to a man shot dead in his chair holding the gun.

WHICH MATTER OF DEATH?  Officers respond to a 911 call and end up taking a man to the hospital due to arm and chest pains. He later passes on.

WHICH MANNER OF DEATH?  Arriving at the scene of a crime, the officers found 2 victims that appeared to have died from a GSW.

WHICH MANNER OF DEATH?  Officers arrive after the wife phones in that her husband has fallen off a ladder. He is declared dead on the ambulance ride to the hospital.

WHICH MANNER OF DEATH?  A drug dealer with a history of overdoses passes away due to an overdose.

UNCLASSIFIED OR UNDETERMINED  When someone dies from a cause but the manner is not able to be determined.  Examples:  Trauma or drugs  Heart attack after a surgery

LIST AND EXPLAIN THE MANNERS OF DEATH

PATHOLOGY AND AUTOPSIES

FORENSIC PATHOLOGISTS  Determine the cause, mechanism, and manner of death  Forensic pathology is the study of medicine as it relates to criminal law

AUTOPSIES  Medical Autopsy:  Conducted to determine the medical factors relating to death and search for illnesses  Forensic Autopsy:  Performed to determine the cause of death and the time, mechanism, and manner of death

WHO GETS AUTOPSIED?  Traumatic Deaths  Unusual Deaths  Sudden Deaths  Unexpected Deaths

STATISTICS:  In most areas, 1% of the population dies every year  25% of these deaths are brought to a medical examiner

SUMMARY:  What is the difference between a medical and a forensic autopsy?

IDENTIFY JOHN AND JANE DOE

BODIES CAN BE IDENTIFIED USING:  Artifacts on the body  Scars, birthmarks, and tattoos  Wounds or disease  Fingerprints  Teeth  Bones

ESTIMATING TIME OF DEATH

3 FORMS OF TIME OF DEATH:  Estimated:  The best guess as determined by the medical examiner  Legal:  The time when the body was discovered and pronounced dead  Physiological:  The time when the body’s functions stopped

MEASURING BODY TEMPERATURE  Normal body temp: 98.6 o F or 37 o C  A body loses about 1.5 o F or 1 o C degrees for every hour until it reaches the temperature of the environment

WHAT MAKES TEMPERATURE INACCURATE?  A cold or hot environment  Obesity  Clothing  Direct Sunlight

HOW TO DETERMINE T.O.D. TimeTemperature (degrees celcius 4:00am34.5 5:00am33.5 6:00am32.5 7:00am31.5 8:00am30.5

RIGOR MORTIS  Rigor Mortis: the stiffening and contraction of muscles caused by chemical reactions in the cells after death

SETTING IN:  Rigor mortis sets in:  The small face and neck muscles in 2 hours  Travels downward from head-to-toe in larger muscles  The entire body in 8 to 12 hours

RIGID STATE  After rigor mortis has totally set in, the body remains fixed for 18 hours

LOSING RIGIDITY  The process reverses itself in the order it appeared  After another 12 hours, the muscles become relaxed

DESCRIBE THE PROCESS OF RIGOR MORTIS:

LIVIDITY  The purplish discoloration of portions of the body that occur after death

LIVIDITY’S CAUSE  It is caused by stagnation of the blood in the vessels  Bruising happens where gravity pulls the blood

PATTERNS OF LIVIDITY  Blood pools DOWN  Skin touching hard surfaces creates a small white patch in the bruise

 Examples:  A corpse lying on a cool table on its back will develop lividity along the back, buttocks, and calves with little white patches in the calves

 It appears within 30 minutes to a couple of hours and reaches a maximum by 8 to 12 hours

 During the 1 st 6 hours, the lividity can shift if the body is moved

SUMMARY SLIDE  What is lividty?  How does it progress?