Autopsies Work

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How Autopsies Work

by Robert Valdes
When someone dies under mysterious circumstances, what happens next? Most states in the United
States have laws that require certain types of deaths be investigated:
injury
delayed complications of injuries
poisoning
infectious complications
foul play
people who die with no attending physician
If the death meets any of the above criteria, it must be reported to the local medical examiner or
coroner for investigation and a legal determination of the cause of death. The main tool of this
investigation is the autopsy.
http://health.howstuffworks.com/autopsy.htm/printable (1 of 24)2/11/2003 2:28:51 AM

Photo courtesy Sacramento County Coroner's Office

A body awaits examination in an autopsy bay.
The process of examining the dead to discover how they died is the subject of many TV shows and
movies, but the facts aren't always so clear-cut. In an interview with Atlanta's Fulton County
Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Eric Kiesel, HowStuffWorks cut through the mystery of this often
misunderstood process and learned the details of the preparation, procedure, and tools needed to
perform an autopsy.
Meet Dr. Kiesel

Dr. Kiesel is the Deputy Chief Medical Examiner of Fulton County. He has been a
forensic pathologist since 1985. Here's a short resume:
attended Louisiana State University Medical Center in New Orleans

completed an internal medicine internship in the Tufts program at New
England Medical Centers
completed two years of anatomic pathology residency training in Seattle at
the University of Washington affiliated hospitals
completed a one-year forensic pathology fellowship as the assistant
medical examiner of King County in Seattle
completed a one-year, sub-specialty training in forensics
was the first Washington State Forensic Pathology Fellow
was brought in as an acting coroner in Snohomish County

assisted in creating legislation to convert Snohomish County from a
coroners system to medical examiners system
served in Snohomish County from 1987 to 1997
moved to Atlanta, Georgia, in September 1997 and began working in the
Fulton County Medical Examiner system
When asked why he wanted to be a medical examiner, Dr. Kiesel replied:
I started off looking into environmental pathology. I have a Ph.D. in

analytical chemistry. I became friends with the medical examiner in
Seattle, and when an opportunity arose to do a fellowship, I took that
opportunity and found it quite fascinating, and have stayed with the job.
Autopsy Basics
In order to understand how an autopsy works, it helps to first understand what they are and why they
are done.

Multiple autopsies are performed at once at the Sacramento
County Coroner's Office.
An autopsy is the medical examination of a dead body to determine the cause of death. Autopsies
are performed when someone dies suddenly and unexpectedly while in apparently good health.
Autopsies may also be performed at the request of the family of the deceased.
There are two types of autopsies:
Forensic
Clinical
The forensic autopsy or medical-legal autopsy is the kind you most The Price of Knowing
often see on TV and in movies. According to Dr. Kiesel, "The forensic A privately hired autopsy can
autopsy spends almost as much time on the external surfaces of the cost anywhere between
body as it does on the internal surfaces, 'cause that's where evidence $1,500 and $3,200.
is." Forensic autopsies try to find answers to the cause of death as part
of an overall police investigation.
The clinical autopsy is usually performed in hospitals by pathologists or the attending physician to
determine a cause of death for research and study purposes. Dr. Kiesel explains:
They're really interested in the disease processes that are going on, and they're interested ...
in making that clinical-pathological correlation. A person came in with these symptoms, here's
the treatment they got and here are my findings. They try to put the whole package together to
help inform people of what happened or may have happened.
In the eyes of the law, all deaths fall into one of five categories of causes. In the next section, we'll
look at the five manners of death.

Reality TV?
On TV shows like CSI or The X-Files, medical examiners seem to be a
major component in the investigation and can use DNA evidence for just
about everything. Dr. Kiesel commented on some of the more common TV-
driven misconceptions:
We dont go out and do the entire investigation. We are not the

police... Weve got our part, the police have their part. The autopsy
doesnt always tell you all of the answers. Somebodys who
committed suicide -- the autopsys going to tell you why they died,
what killed them -- but it wont necessarily tell you why they did it. So,
all of the answers arent going to be there...
We cant do DNA on every case and match up every little thing. Even
though it happens on TV, its not within our capabilities. Very often
its not within the labs capabilities. Sometimes there are financial
constraints on what we can do.
Manners of Death
In death investigations, autopsies are most often performed by a In Hot Water
forensic pathologist. A pathologist studies the effects of diseases, According to the National Safety
medical treatments and injury on the human body. A forensic Council, your lifetime odds of
pathologist specializes in using these studies to establish a legally dying as a result of contact with
admissible manner of death in a court of law. hot tap-water are around 1 in
64,788.*
There are five legally defined manners of death:
*Statistics compiled in a 2001 study.
Odds apply to persons living in the U.
Natural S. only.
Accident
Homicide
Suicide
Undetermined


Pathologists at the Sacramento County Coroner's Office
prepare to examine a victim from a homicide case.
After careful examination of all the evidence at hand, the forensic Fly or Drive?
pathologist acting as a medical examiner or coroner (more on the According to the National Safety
distinction later) will assign a cause of death as one of these five Council, your lifetime odds of
manners. dying in an airplane crash are
around 1 in 4,023, while your
For example, if the autopsy reveals a natural disease process such lifetime odds of dying in a car
as leukemia or cancer, then the death would be considered natural. accident are around 1 in 27.*

The answers are not always that clear. The pathologist must Odds apply to persons living in the U.
consider all of the information. Severe head injuries that result in S. only.
death with no evidence of assault could be hard to explain. But
when that evidence is added to the police report that states the body
was found next to an ice-covered, fallen ladder, the manner of death is an accident.
It would be easy to assume a gunshot wound is the result of a homicide. But an autopsy could
reveal that the wound patterns, angle of bullet entry and gun powder residue indicate that the gun
was fired while being held by the victim. The wounds are self-inflicted, so that would be ruled a

suicide.
Dr. Kiesel had an interesting example of the unique possibilities when assigning a manner of death.
Let's say, somebody 30 years ago received a gunshot wound to the head and they developed
a seizure disorder. It's 30 years later, and they die from the seizure disorder. Well, the seizure
disorder was caused by the gunshot wound; the gunshot wound is an unnatural event. That
case would actually be classified as a homicide ... there's no time limit to that trauma. There's
a time limit if you wanted to take it to court and sue somebody, but there's not a time limit as
far as our making the call.
In the next section, we'll look at the difference between a coroner and a medical examiner.
Medical Examiner or Coroner?

While many types of medical doctors are capable of performing Coroner History
autopsies, most states or local government laws mandate that an Dr. Kiesel spoke about the
appointed forensic pathologist do the work. These appointees are origins of the coroner:
called medical examiners and have an official position in the
county medical examiner system. "The history goes back to the
old days where the position was
Not all counties use the medical examiner system. Some counties originally called the "crowner."
use coroners and a coroner's system. There are two major The crowner and a couple of
differences between medical examiners and coroners and their knights would go out, and it was
corresponding systems. basically to make sure that
when somebody died, the king
got his cut of the booty."
Dr. Kiesel explains:
A medical examiner by definition is a physician ... In most cases, they are trained to be
forensic pathologists... and are appointed to their positions. To be a coroner, you just have to
be able to be elected to the job. You've got places where the local feed store operator is a
coroner. I've got a friend out in Washington State who's a farmer, who's the coroner of his
county.
Many coroners are qualified pathologists with years of experience. Some are physicians in unrelated
fields. But depending on the county laws, a coroner may require no medical qualifications at all in
order to perform his or her duty. This fact raises two questions:

First, why would a county opt for a coroner system over a medical
Sweet Dreams
examiners system if the differences in qualifications can be so
According to the National Safety
great? Council, your lifetime odds of
dying of accidental suffocation
The answer is resources. In most rural areas, there may not be a and strangulation in bed are
whole lot of qualified forensic pathologists around nor the facilities approximately 1 in 8,099.*
needed for them to do their jobs properly. Additionally, rural areas
with very little or no violent crime or unexplainable deaths don't need *Statistics compiled in a 2001 study.
a full-time forensic pathologist. Odds apply to persons living in the U.
S. only.
The second question is: What is a feed store coroner going to do

when faced with a dead body?
Dr Kiesel answers, "He's gonna go out and say, 'Well, he's dead.' That's the coroner's official duty."
The coroner is also responsible for: Big Bang

According to the National Safety
Identifying the body Council, your lifetime odds of
Notifying the next of kin dying in a fireworks discharge
Collecting and returning any personal belongings on the body are 1 in 615,488.*
to the family of the deceased
Signing the death certificate *Statistics compiled in a 2001 study.
S. only.
Some states, like Louisiana, require coroners to be forensic
pathologists, but most county coroner systems do not. In the event
that a non-medical coroner needs an autopsy performed, he or she can have it sent to a medical
examiner. In some states, the government will provide the coroner with a medical examiner for the
autopsy.
In the next sections, we will detail the process of examining a dead body inside and out.
Autopsy Procedure: External Examination

The body is received at a medical examiners office or hospital in a body bag or evidence sheet. If
the autopsy is not performed immediately, the body will be refrigerated in the morgue until the
examination.


Bodies are moved in specially outfitted, unmarked vans.
A brand new body bag is used for each body. This is to ensure that only evidence from that body is
contained within the bag. Body bags are closed and sealed to prevent any contamination or evidence
loss during transportation.


Bodies arrive in body bags or evidence sheets like the one
shown here.
Evidence sheets are an alternate way to transport the body. An evidence sheet is a sterile sheet that
the body is covered in when it is moved. Just like the body bags, investigators use brand new sheets
for every corpse.


Special equipment is sometimes used to help move bodies.
The body is moved in the bag or sheet to the examination suite. The person responsible for handling
the body is often called a diener. The diener is a morgue attendant who is responsible for moving
and cleaning the body and, in some cases, assisting in the autopsy. The diener will also clean the
exam suite after the autopsy is over. This job may vary from facility to facility.
When the body is received in a body bag, the seals of the bag are Autopsy Wear
broken and the body is photographed inside the bag. In a forensic
autopsy, it is important at this stage for the medical examiner to note
Scrub suits
the clothing of the deceased and the position of the clothing. This is
Gowns
because once the clothing is removed for the examination, any Gloves (two pair)
evidence pertaining to the position of the clothing cannot be Shoe covers
documented. Clear plastic face shield
Evidence is collected off of the external surfaces of the body. Hair

samples, fingernails, gunshot residue (if present), fibers, paint chips
or any other foreign objects found on the surface of the body are collected and noted.
If it is a homicide investigation, the hands of the deceased will be placed in bags at the scene. The
medical examiner will open the bags and take residue and fingernail samples. Then the bags are
removed, folded and submitted with the samples as part of the evidence.
In some cases, a special UV radiation is used to enhance secretions War and Peace
on the skin or clothes. The radiation causes the secretions to According to the National Safety
fluoresce so that they may be collected for samples. Council, your lifetime odds of
dying as a result of the
If protocol dictates, the body will be X-rayed while still in the body operations of war are around 1
bag. This is an important step. Dr Kiesel explains why: in 217,231.*

I had a body the other day where the person had been shot.
The body came in, we shot an X-ray through the body bag, S. only.
we took the body out of the body bag, we did the autopsy and
we found all the bullets except for one -- couldn't find it. Well, it was still in the body bag. It was
actually through and underneath the body. So [on the X-ray] it looked like it was still in the
body even though it wasn't.

A body is X-rayed in the evidence sheet.
Once the evidence is all collected, the body is removed from the bag or sheet and undressed, and
the wounds are examined. This is done before the body is cleaned up.
After the body is cleaned, the body is weighed and measured before being placed on the autopsy
table for reexamination. The autopsy table is typically a slanted, aluminum table with raised edges
that has several faucets and drains used to wash away collecting blood during the internal
investigation. The types of table used vary from facility to facility. The body is placed face up on the
table, and a body block is placed under the patient's back. A body block is a rubber or plastic "brick"
that causes the corpse's chest to protrude forward while the arms and neck fall back. This position
makes the chest easier to cut open.

Technicians wear protective gear to prevent infection.
At this point, a general description of the body is made. All identifying features are noted including:
Race
Sex
Hair color and length
Eye color
Approximate age
Any identifying features (scars, tattoos, birthmarks, etc.)


One body is weighed while the other is fingerprinted before the
external examination.
These features are noted on a handheld voice recorder or a standard exam form. In addition to all
normal features, any external abnormalities are noted in these reports. Dr. Kiesel describes the
wrapping up of the external examination:
We usually separate out into different categories our general description from our evidence of
trauma, from our evidence of medical intervention. We'll get a blood sample ... we begin to
collect some specimens for toxicology [the study of the effects of chemicals on the human
body] ... [and] then we'll open the body.
In the next sections, we'll talk about the internal examination.
Autopsy: Internal Examination

The internal examination starts with a large, deep, Y-shaped incision that is made from shoulder to
shoulder meeting at the breast bone and extends all the way down to the pubic bone. When a woman
is being examined, the Y-incision is curved around the bottom of the breasts before meeting at the
breast bone.

The next step is to peel back the skin, muscle and soft tissue using a scalpel. Once this is done, the
chest flap is pulled up over the patients face, exposing the ribcage and neck muscles.
Two cuts are made on each side of the ribcage, and then the ribcage is pulled from the skeleton after
dissecting the tissue behind it with a scalpel.
With the organs exposed, a series of cuts are made that detach the larynx, esophagus, various
arteries and ligaments. Next, the medical examiner severs the organs attachment to the spinal
cord as well as the attachment to the bladder and rectum. Once this is done, the entire organ set
can be pulled out in one piece and dissected for further investigation.
During this dissection, the various organs are examined and weighed and tissue samples are taken.
These samples take the form of "slices" that can be easily viewed under a microscope. Major blood
vessels are also bisected and examined.
The examiner opens the stomach and examines and weighs the contents. This can sometimes be
helpful in figuring out the time of death (more on time of death later).
The examiner will then remove the body block from the back and put it behind the neck like a pillow,
raising the patient's head so that it's easier to remove the brain.
The examiner makes a cut with a scalpel from behind one ear, across the forehead, to the other ear
and around. The cut is divided, and the scalp is pulled away from the skull in two flaps. The front flap
goes over the patients face and the rear flap over the back of the neck.
The skull is cut with an electric saw to create a "cap" that can be pried off, exposing the brain. When
the cap is pulled off, the dura (the soft tissue membrane that covers the brain) remains attached to
the bottom of the skull cap. The brain is now exposed. The brain's connection to the spinal cord and
tentorium (a membrane that connects and covers the cerebellum and occipital lobes of the
cerebrum) are severed, and the brain is easily lifted out of the skull for examination.


The vibrating electric Stryker saw is used to cut into the skull
without damaging the brain.
Throughout this whole process, the medical examiner is looking for Malpractice
evidence of trauma or other indications of the cause of death. The According to the National Safety
process varies based on the nature of the case and is incredibly Council, your lifetime odds of
detailed -- the forensic pathologist has to adhere to an intricate, in- dying as a result of
depth process to ensure the proper collection and documentation of complications of medical and
evidence. surgical care are around 1 in
1,222.*
After the examination, the body has an open and empty chest cavity
with butterflied chest flaps, the top of the skull is missing, and the *Statistics compiled in a 2001 study.
skull flaps are pulled over the face and neck. To prepare the body S. only.
for the funeral home:
The organs are either put back into the body or incinerated.
The chest flaps are closed and sewn back together.
The skull cap is put back in place and held there by closing and sewing the scalp.
The funeral home is then contacted to pick up the deceased.
The whole process takes careful work. Dr Kiesel explains how long this can take:

An average autopsy case takes about four hours. That's including all the paperwork. There is
about a half an hour before and after the autopsy for doing the external examination, the
dictation, the paperwork. The autopsy can take anywhere from one hour to two hours if it's an
uncomplicated case. If it's a complicated case like a homicide ... it can take many hours -- 4 to
6 hours.
Dr Kiesel continues, "The medical examiner will then take all of the information that they've received
from the autopsy exam, all of the information they've received from the investigation, and they will
determine a cause of death and a manner of death."
In the next section, we will learn about the examination of wounds and injuries.
Examining Wounds
One of the greatest challenges of an autopsy is examining the wounds. The essence of the medical
examiner's job is to use his or her skill and experience to determine the true nature and cause of a
particular wound. Depending on the type of wound or weapon used, this can get difficult. Dr. Kiesel
talks about those difficulties:
[When] they weren't shot once, they were shot 13 times or 20 times ... you've got to sort out
paths of all these bullets. You've got to figure out where each bullet went. The old way of doing
it was, 'Well, he's got 10 holes on the front, there are eight holes on the back, and there's two
bullets inside, we're done.' [The] legal system won't accept that anymore.
Homicide cases have to be examined carefully and thoroughly. A part of a medical examiner's job
includes testifying in court. Medical examiners are often called upon to explain their findings on the
stand. Their findings can have a large impact on the lives of all those who are part of the case.
Dr. Kiesel explains how tracing bullets gets really difficult when the police are the shooters:
They really want to know, "Okay, what bullet went where," especially if you've got multiple
shooters and especially if it's a case involving the police. You know, you've collected this
bullet. Which officer's gun does that go to? So this person's went here, this person's bullet
went here. You really have to chase it down a lot of steps sometimes.
Dr. Kiesel explains how wounds have patterns that help to determine their origins:
Bludgeoning, where you have someone who's been physically assaulted and beaten, you've
got a lot of different injuries. Sometimes these injuries have patterns. Sometimes the injury

patterns give you a clue as to what weapon may have been used. Sometimes there's more
than one weapon. I had a case where a person was done in by one individual, but that
individual used at least four different weapons. So we had four different types of patterned
injuries on that person.
Through years of education and experience, the medical examiner learns to recognize these patterns
and the types of trauma with which they are associated.
In the next section, we'll look at the tools used to perform an autopsy.
Tools of the Trade

The tools used to perform autopsies have changed very little in the past 100 years. The only real
major advance in tools is the addition of some electrical saws. But even those are still not used as
often as the good old-fashioned hand tools.

Bone saw - used to cut through bone or skull

Breadknife - used to shave slices off of organs for examination
Enterotome - special scissors used to open the intestines
Hagedorn needle - a heavy needle used to sew up the body after examination
Hammer with hook - used to pull skull cap off of skull
Rib cutter - special shears used to cut through the ribs
Scalpel - like a surgeon's scalpel but with largest blade possible for making long deep cuts or
scraping away tissue
Scissors - used for opening hollow organs and cutting vessels
Skull chisel - used for helping to carefully pry the skull cap off
Stryker saw - the electric saw used to cut through the skull to remove the brain
Toothed forceps - used to pick up heavy organs


The autopsy bay has everything the pathologist needs for the
investigation within arm's reach.
Dr. Kiesel discussed some of the alternatives to the traditional tools:
We don't always use nice, delicate, surgical tools. If you put the word medical or autopsy on
something, the price triples, so ... I can go to a restaurant supply house and get some good
knives that cost me just a fraction of what it would cost to buy them elsewhere.
Autopsy tool shopping doesn't stop at the restaurant supply house. Shocking Odds
The medical examiner may also visit a hardware store for supplies. According to the National Safety
Dr. Kiesel continues: Council, your lifetime odds of
dying as a result of being struck
... things like pruning sheers tend to work better than surgical by lightning are about 1 in
bone cutters for cutting through ribs. You know, a scalpel 83,930.*
blade's only got an inch, inch and a half worth of cutting
surface, whereas you can get a good, long knife that's got a 6- *Statistics compiled in a 2001 study.
to-8-inch blade on it so you can cut more and faster. Odds apply to persons living in the U.
S. only.
... we're not doing very delicate surgical procedures where we

have to worry about if we nick the wrong thing somebody's going to bleed. So, our tools aren't
quite that delicate, but we can still do some reasonably sophisticated things ... It's not like
doing delicate microsurgery.
While this may seem gruesome, medical examiners are forced to work on a budget, and saving
money on tools frees up funds for use on other investigative resources.
In the next section, we will learn how medical examiners unravel the mystery of time of death.
Time of Death
On TV and in the movies, you've probably seen countless Watch Your Step
investigators refer with seeming accuracy to a time of death. Have According to the National Safety
you ever wondered how that is possible? Well, it turns out that Council, your lifetime odds of
investigators use what is called the Time of Death Certainty dying as the result of a fall from
Principle -- and it's not nearly as scientific or as certain as it slipping, tripping, or stumbling
sounds. are about 1 in 6,548.*
It goes something like this: If you know with certainty when the Statistics compiled in a 2001 study.
person was last known to be alive, and if you know with certainty S. only.
when they were found dead, then you know with 100% certainty that
they died within that interval.
That is the foundation of the principle. That may seem obvious, but that is only the starting point.
Once they have that interval, investigators begin to look at both medical and non-medical factors to
get an approximation of the time of death.
Dr. Kiesel goes into detail:
There are changes that occur after death. Most of them are chemically related. Blood settles
by gravity within the body, and there's a purple discoloration that occurs of the body -- that's
called lividity. The body will become rigid. That's called rigidity or rigor ... People have
looked at vitreous humor, which is the fluid in the eye; the corneas become cloudy ... You
can look at the gastric contents [food left in the stomach or intestines]. You know, when did
they last eat, and that can be helpful. Do they have a full bladder or not?
All of these recognized chemical changes associated with death happen at intervals of time that are
widely known. But these are not airtight indicators. Variables like ambient temperature, chemicals in
the blood stream and other factors can affect the rate at which these changes occur.

Dr. Kiesel pointed out other things investigators look for when trying Sleeping with the Fishes
to establish a time of death: According to the National Safety
Council, your lifetime odds of
Sometimes, non-medical things are more helpful to narrow drowning are about 1 in 15,715.*
the time of death. At the scene, when was the last mail that
they received? The TV Guide, what page is it open to? The *Statistics compiled in a 2001 study.
bottom line is: There's no one factor you can look at. There is Odds apply to persons living in the U.
S. only.
no scientific way to determine exact time of death short of
having it videotaped in front of an atomic clock.
Haunting Work
Having learned some of the grisly details of this job, it is easy to Giddy-up!
wonder how anyone could to do this for a living without suffering According to the National Safety
severe psychological side effects. Dr. Kiesel discussed the Council, your lifetime odds of
emotional and psychological side of this kind of work: dying as an animal rider or
occupant of animal-drawn
You've got to be the type of person who can emotionally vehicle are about 1 in 31,836.*
disconnect [from] it. I mean, if you went into a case looking at
it as, 'Geez, this is somebody's little girl or somebody's little *Statistics compiled in a 2001 study.
boy,' you'd never be able to do the case. You can't
S. only.
personalize it in any way...
When you walk in, you never forget that this is somebody's loved one. You never forget that,
but when you walk in to do the job, you kinda put that information aside. You look at them
more as a puzzle, and your job is to sort out this puzzle.
I've got to find out what happened. Who, what, why, when, where. I mean, that's what my job
is, to sort out and get those answers. And, do it in a respectful way.
A lot of people can't do this type of job. A lot of people don't want to do this type of job. There
are a lot of jobs I wouldn't want to do either.

Jurisdiction Issues
Federal agents took control of the investigation of the assassination
of President John F. Kennedy, allowing a non-forensic pathologist
to perform the examination of the president's body. This produced
questionable results. At the time, there was some confusion over
who had the right in a federal investigation to perform the autopsy
of a public official.
To solve this problem, the law now mandates that examinations in

federal investigations regarding the death of an official are to be
performed by pathologists from the Armed Forces Institute of
Pathology. In federal investigations dealing with the death of a
civilian, agents will contract a qualified local pathologist to do the
work.
For more information on autopsies, medical examiners and related topics, check out the links on the
next page.
Lots More Information
Related HowStuffWorks Articles
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More Great Links
Sacramento County Coroner's Office

National Association of Medical Examiners
Death Investigations in the United States and Canada
Medical Examiners, Coroners, and Biological Terrorism
The National Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners
The National Board of Medical Examiners
National Safety Council Report: What Are The Odds of Dying?
CDC: National Center for Health Statistics - The Autopsy, Medicine, and Mortality Statistics
Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team
Bibliography:
An Interview with Dr. Eric Kiesel, Fulton County Deputy Medical Examiner
The Routine Autopsy by Ed Uthman, MD
National Association of Medical Examiners
American Society of Clinical Pathologists
National Safety Council Report: What Are The Odds of Dying?
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How Autopsies Work

http://health.howstuffworks.com/autopsy.htm/printable (1 of 24)2/11/2003 2:28:51 AM

Photo courtesy Sacramento County Coroner's Office

Meet Dr. Kiesel

attended Louisiana State University Medical Center in New Orleans

was brought in as an acting coroner in Snohomish County

When asked why he wanted to be a medical examiner, Dr. Kiesel replied:

I started off looking into environmental pathology. I have a Ph.D. in

Photo courtesy Sacramento County Coroner's Office

There are two types of autopsies:

http://health.howstuffworks.com/autopsy.htm/printable (4 of 24)2/11/2003 2:28:51 AM

We dont go out and do the entire investigation. We are not the

http://health.howstuffworks.com/autopsy.htm/printable (5 of 24)2/11/2003 2:28:51 AM

Photo courtesy Sacramento County Coroner's Office

*Statistics compiled in a 2001 study.

http://health.howstuffworks.com/autopsy.htm/printable (6 of 24)2/11/2003 2:28:52 AM

Medical Examiner or Coroner?

http://health.howstuffworks.com/autopsy.htm/printable (7 of 24)2/11/2003 2:28:52 AM

The second question is: What is a feed store coroner going to do

The coroner is also responsible for: Big Bang

Autopsy Procedure: External Examination

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Photo courtesy Sacramento County Coroner's Office

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Photo courtesy Sacramento County Coroner's Office

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Photo courtesy Sacramento County Coroner's Office

Evidence is collected off of the external surfaces of the body. Hair

*Statistics compiled in a 2001 study.

Photo courtesy Sacramento County Coroner's Office

Photo courtesy Sacramento County Coroner's Office

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Photo courtesy Sacramento County Coroner's Office

In the next sections, we'll talk about the internal examination.

Autopsy: Internal Examination

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Photo courtesy Sacramento County Coroner's Office

The funeral home is then contacted to pick up the deceased.

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Tools of the Trade

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Photo courtesy Sacramento County Coroner's Office

Bone saw - used to cut through bone or skull

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Photo courtesy Sacramento County Coroner's Office

Dr. Kiesel discussed some of the alternatives to the traditional tools:

... we're not doing very delicate surgical procedures where we

Dr. Kiesel goes into detail:

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To solve this problem, the law now mandates that examinations in

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How Light Microscopes Work

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