Links:
Death To Dust: What Happens To Dead Bodies?
Death Investigation: The Basics
Death
Investigation Factoids
FROM
Death
Investigation: the Basics
Brad
Randall, M.D.
1-883620-24-4
168 pages. Bibliography, index
$24.95 Softcover
©1997, Galen Press, Ltd., Tucson, AZ
-
The manner of death can be natural, accidental, homicide, or suicide.
- To
combat the intense odor of a decomposing body, take a big gulp
of air and proceed with the investigation.
- In
many U.S. locales, coroners need not be forensic pathologists,
or even physicians.
- Exact
time of death cannot be determined solely from a corpse's condition.
- The
cause of death should never be listed as asystole, cardiac arrest,
or respiratory arrest.
- Local
death investigators may share, or have no, jurisdiction on Indian
reservations, military bases, or in state prisons.
- Granular
powder stippling with a distribution diameter of approximately
6 inches suggests the weapon was fired from 1 to 2 feet away from
the victim.
- Immediately
after death, blood will settle (pool) at the lowest part of the
body.
- Homicides,
suspicious deaths, and deaths of hit-and-run victims, prison inmates,
and public transportation drivers require autopsies.
- In
contact wounds, both the bullet and propellant gases enter the
body, producing a star-shaped wound as the skin is split.
- Between
5,000 and 6,000 infants die each year of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
(SIDS). A determination of SIDS should be made only after an extensive
and thorough investigation according to the guidelines of the
Centers for Disease Control.
©2001,
Galen Press, Ltd., Tucson, AZ
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