AUTOPSY

• The fingerprint details are noted.
• The early Egyptians did not study the dead human body for an explanation of disease and death, though some organs were removed for preservation.
• Canopic jars were used by the ancient Egyptians during the mummification process, to store and preserve the viscera of their owner for the afterlife.
• Canopic jars were commonly either carved from limestone, or were made of pottery.
• In Byzantium, an ancient city of Roman empire, the name of which was change to Constantinople, in 6th Century, autopsies were performed to investigate cause of plague.
• Galen (129-201 AD) performed dissections on animals and primates based on old humoral doctrines.
• Herophilus (335-280 BC) was the first scientist to systematically perform scientific dissections of human cadavers.
• During the Renaissance, public human dissection was performed by Vesalius in De Fabrica Humani Corporis.
• Rudolf Virchow (1821-1902) is the founder of modern pathology.
• Kautilya's Arthashastra gives a list of forensic evidence for establishing the cause of death.
• Dr. Edward Bulkely performed the first documented medico legal autopsy in 1693 in Chennai.
• Mike Webster and Michael Jackson both underwent autopsies in 2002 and 2009 respectively.
• An autopsy (also known as a post-mortem examination or necropsy) is the examination of the body of a dead person.
• An autopsy can be categorized by five different rulings for manner of death: natural, accident, homicide, suicide, or undetermined.
• An autopsy is done to save lives, discover hereditary illness, ease the stress of the unknown, and provide legal evidence.
• Types of autopsy include clinical autopsy, forensic autopsy, and academic autopsy.
• The autopsy begins with a complete external examination, recording the weight and height of the body, and identifying marks such as scars and tattoos.
• Autopsy reports are medicolegal documents that not only report the anatomic findings of the postmortem examination but which also provide detailed clinicopathologic correlations.
• All autopsy reports follow a general format as approved by the National Association of Medical Examiners (name.org).
• The body of the deceased should be identified by the Officer-in-Charge who brought it.
• Autopsies can be performed by a pathologist, medical examiner, or coroner.
• The dead body should be identified prior to autopsy, this is necessary because in a mortuary where daily autopsies are done chances of performing autopsy on wrong body do exist.
• Voltaire said, ‘To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe only the truth.’
• It should also identified by two relatives with names and address, signed or fingerprint.
• During the autopsy process, samples are obtained for evidence, histology and toxicology and microscopic examination.
• The general content format of an autopsy report consists of: Diagnoses, Toxicology, Opinion, Circumstances of Death, Identification of the Deceased, General Description of Clothing and Personal Effects, Evidence of Medical Intervention, External Examination.
• If the identity of the deceased is unknown, ask the Officer-in-Charge to take photographs, note the dress worn and tailor tag, belongings, facial features and identification marks.
• An autopsy is an examination of a dead body by a doctor who cuts it open in order to try to discover the cause of death.
• In the autopsy process, the body is received, a closer look is taken at the body, evidence is collected from external surfaces, internal examination is performed, organs are removed, the brain is removed, the organs are examined, the organs are returned, and the body is sewn up.
• Toothed forceps are used to pick up heavy organs.
• The autopsy findings will have a Cause of Death, which will include any factors directly contributing to or causing the death (i.e. blunt force trauma or a cardiac event).
• The course of the death investigation has multiple phases including: Scene Investigation, Body Assessment, Medical Records, Forensic Autopsy.
• The internal examination of the body involves viewing the internal organs, removing the organs, and examining them.
• The final step in an autopsy is returning the organs to the body.
• There are four types of incisions used in an autopsy: primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary.
• The 'Y' shaped incision begins at a point near acromial end of each clavicle and extend in a curve either above the nipple or below the breast in each side to meet at the xiphoid process or sternum depending upon whether deceased is male or female.
• Three types of primary incisions are applied in autopsy: straight incision, 'Y' shaped incision, and modified 'Y' shaped incision.
• The modified 'Y' shaped incision extends obliquely downward from the point 2-3 cm behind the lobe of ear running forward to meet at the upper border of Manumbrium sterni or the visible dip in between the neck.
• The Letulle method is the principle protocol for training pathologists and involves commencing the dissection at the abdomen, removing the abdominal organs in one block, and then removing the thoracic, cervical, and abdominal organs one by one.
• The quarternary autopsy incision involves cutting of viscerae to expose the chambers of heart, inner of lungs, and inner of liver.