NCJ Number
209981
Date Published
2005
Length
55 pages
Annotation
This chapter reviews the various and complex postmortem changes a human body or its remains undergoes after death.
Abstract
Forensic pathologists and medical examiners must have an intimate knowledge of the underlying biological processes leading to certain postmortem changes in human bodies in order to discern between the artifactual changes of the postmortem body versus the underlying pathological conditions leading to death. Incorrect interpretations of bodily changes may result in erroneous determinations of the cause of death. This chapter reviews the common changes occurring in human bodies following death, including livor mortis, vibices, rigor mortis, algor mortis, autolysis, maceration, putrefaction, postmortem preservation by freezing, and postmortem animal depredation. It is usually not possible to determine the time of death definitively based on the appearance of a single postmortem change. Similarly, it is generally not possible to predict the postmortem changes expected to occur after a particular postmortem interval has elapsed. However, death investigators may draw valuable hints about the time frame of death from the presence and picture of several postmortem changes, analyzed together with the rectal temperature of the deceased. Tables, figures, references