1 / 11

Forensic Science

Forensic Science. Autopsy Procedures. What’s left: . Friday- Autopsy procedures Wednesday - Forensic Biology Unit TEST Thursday- Pig Autopsy Monday - Final Exam. You should have back: . Diagramming Injuries and Using Medical Terminology (stapled together -20 points)

thyra
Download Presentation

Forensic Science

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Forensic Science Autopsy Procedures

  2. What’s left: • Friday- Autopsy procedures • Wednesday- Forensic Biology Unit TEST • Thursday- Pig Autopsy • Monday- Final Exam

  3. You should have back: • Diagramming Injuries and Using Medical Terminology (stapled together -20 points) • Insect Evidence Packet- 70 points • All Skeletal Evidence assignments are due TODAY

  4. Forensic File • Which skull in the picture is an example of an Asian skull? • What characteristics do you look for to make this determination?

  5. African

  6. Autopsy • Postmortem examination of the body, including dissection of the corpse • There are two systems of death investigators in the US: the coroner system and the medical examiner system • Coroner is typically an elected positions • Medical examiners are medical doctors who may also be forensic pathologists. They are appointed by the state’s governor. • A forensic pathologist is a medical doctor who is trained to identify why and how someone died & present those findings to the court • The primary goal of a medical examiner is to determine cause and manner of death.

  7. Steps to a death investigation • Step one: preliminary investigation at the death scene • Death investigator is employed by coroner/medical examiner’s office. Responsible for initial assessment of body/death scene. • Photographs and sketches body at scene • Document any signs of trauma • Make observations to help medical examiner make TOD determination • Time between death and discovery: postmortem interval (PMI) • At scene they look for obvious signs of decomposition • Also look for scene markers- nonbiological evidence that provides clues to TOD • Assessment of scene, collection of evidence, documentation and delivery to lab • Death investigators also interview witnesses and victim’s family

  8. Steps to a death investigation • Step two: medical examination of body • Assigned a case number, update chain of custody • External examination: clothing, completes external examination, and X rays. Then examined for any biological and nonbiological evidence. • Autopsy- determine body temp, removes and examines the following structures: brain, larynx, hyoid bone, heart and lungs. • If a victim has been strangled, hyoid bone is usually broken • Collects samples of blood, urine and bile. • Then internal organs are removed and the mass of each is measured • Stomach contents are analyzed • Tissue samples are collected from various organs for DNA and toxicology screenings

  9. Steps to death investigation • Step 3: Laboratory tests • Toxicology- detection of drugs, alcohol and/or poisons • Histology- study of tissues. Tissue is sliced very thinly, stained and studied under the microscope for abnormalities • Neuropathology- study of disease and trauma associated with the nervous system. More than half of all deaths are associated with the nervous system, most often the brain. • Serology- study of blood, semen and other bodily fluids

  10. Autopsy reports • The medical examiner is responsible for all autopsy reports • Responsible for testifying at court with relation to autopsy findings • Parts of reportHeading: name, age, gender of victim • External examination: all findings from external exam including diagrams. Includes overall description of victim, full description of body • Evidence of injury: external and internal injuries • Internal examination: weighs and describes each organ noting any abnormalities • Medical examiner’s findings and opinion: summarizes findings and gives his or her own opinion

More Related