Virtual Autopsy

Forensic Science Laboratory

Syracuse University Chemistry 113

Introduction

An autopsy — also known as a post-mortem examination — is a medical procedure that consists

of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to
evaluate any disease or injury that may be present. It is usually performed by a specialized
medical doctor called a pathologist.

With the possible exception of the Single Bullet Theory, nothing about the assassination
has been as controversial as the nature of Kennedy’s head wound. Conspiracists have
stressed witness testimony that the back of Kennedy’s head was blown out, suggesting a
shot from the Grassy Knoll. Lone assassin theorists have stressed the photographic
evidence and the autopsy x-rays, which show the back of the head intact.

Autopsies are either performed for legal or medical purposes. For example, a forensic autopsy is
carried out when the cause of death may be a criminal matter, while a clinical or academic
autopsy is performed to find the medical cause of death and is used in cases of unknown or
uncertain death, or for research purposes. Autopsies can be further classified into cases where
external examination suffices, and those where the body is dissected and internal examination is
conducted.

Objectives

In this lab you will perform a virtual autopsy to glean a better understanding of the methodology
of the autopsy.

Background

The term "autopsy" derives from the Ancient Greek autopsia, "to see for oneself", and the first
autopsies were believed to have been performed by the ancient Egyptians around 3,000 BC.
Although the removal of organs was for religious practice and mummification, the organs were
examined before preservation. Modern day autopsies that open the body to determine the cause
of death can be found in written historic records as early as the third millenium BC, although
early societies opposed such practice. It was believed that the outward disfigurement of dead
persons prevented them from entering the afterlife.

The dissection of human remains for medical reasons continued to be practiced irregularly and it
wasn’t until the anatomists of the Renaissance that pathology was truly introduced. Giovanni
Morgagni (1682–1771), is celebrated as the father of anatomical pathology. In continuation of
this early work, two great nineteenth-century medical researchers, Rudolf Virchow and Carl von
Rokitansky, derived two distinct autopsy techniques that still bear their names. Their
demonstration of correspondences between pathological conditions in dead bodies and symptoms

Virtual Autopsy 1 Copyright James T. Spencer 2009

and illnesses in the living opened the way for a different way of thinking about disease and its
treatment.

The principal aim of an autopsy is to determine the cause of death, the state of health of the
person before he or she died, and whether any medical diagnosis and treatment before death
could have been performed.

An autopsy is frequently performed in cases of sudden death, or when death is believed to be due
to an unnatural cause. These examinations are performed by a certified person - Medical
Examiner, Coroner, or Procurator – and do not require specific consent from the family of the
deceased. The most extreme example of the need to perform an autopsy would be the
examination of murder victims, especially when medical examiners are looking for signs of
death or the murder method.

A forensic autopsy is used to determine the manner of death and in the United States law, deaths
are placed in one of five manners:

Natural Accident Homicide Suicide Undetermined

In some jurisdictions, the Undetermined category may include deaths in absentia, such as deaths
at sea and missing persons declared dead in a court of law. Following an in-depth examination
of all the evidence, a medical examiner or coroner will assign a manner of death as one of the
five listed above, and detail the evidence on the cause of the death.

There are two parts to the physical examination of the body: the external and internal
examination. The pathologist can request further testing be done, focusing on toxicology,
biochemical tests and/or genetic testing to assist in determining the cause, or causes, of death.

External examination: After the body is received, it is photographed, an oral listing of the
clothing present and their position on the body is recorded for the formal report. Next,
any evidence such as residue, flakes of paint or other material is collected from the
external surfaces of the body. Ultraviolet light may also be used to search body surfaces
for any evidence not easily visible to the naked eye. Samples of hair, nails and the like
are taken, and the body may also be radiographically imaged. The body is then
undressed and the external examination continues with the body being cleaned, weighed,
and measured in preparation for the internal examination. A general description of the
body as regards ethnicity, sex, age, hair color and length, eye color and other
distinguishing features (birthmarks, old scar tissue, moles, etc) is then made.

Internal examination: If not already in place, a plastic or rubber brick called a "body
block" is placed under the back of the body, causing the arms and neck to fall backward
whilst stretching and pushing the chest upward to make it easier to cut open. The internal
examination can be performed using different approaches:

● a large and deep Y-shaped incision can be made starting at the top of each shoulder
and running down the front of the chest, meeting at the lower point of the sternum.
This is the approach most often used in forensic autopsies so as to allow maximum

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 exposure of the neck structures for later detailed examination. This could prove
essential in cases of suspected strangulation.
● a T-shaped incision made from the tips of both shoulders, in a horizontal line across
the region of the collar bones to meet at the sternum (breastbone) in the middle. This
initial cut is used more often to produce a more aesthetic finish to the body when it is
reconstituted as stitching marks will not be as apparent as with a Y-shaped incision
● a single vertical cut is made from the middle of the neck (in the region of the 'adam's
apple' on a male body)

Once cut, the chest cavity is then opened to expose the internal organs for examination. Each
organ should be removed, weighed, and observed before being placed aside. Making a decision
as to what order the organs are to be removed will depend highly on the case in question. To
examine the brain, an incision is made from behind one ear, over the crown of the head, to a
point behind the other ear. The scalp is pulled away from the skull, the skull is cut with an
electric saw to create a "cap" that can be pulled off, and the brain is exposed.

An important component of the autopsy is the reconstitution of the body upon completion for
family viewing during a memorial service, if desired. It is common for relatives of the deceased
to not be able to tell the procedure has been done at all.

References:

http://www.iqb.es/historiamedicina/personas/bpics/morgagni2.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopsy

Experimental Methods and Data Table

Procedure: http://australianmuseum.net.au/interactive-tools/autopsy/

(1) Go to the above website and perform an autopsy.

(2) Fill in the information from each section on the Data Table provided.

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 Virtual Autopsy
Data Table
Name Laboratory Section
Instructor Lab Period
1. List the forensic evidence that might be found during the external exam on the
following parts of the body:

a. Chest –

b. Fingers –

c. Shoulders –

d. Legs –

e. Elbows –

2. What is the most common way to remove the organs? Describe:

3. Which organs, once removed, are not weighed? Describe what is done instead?

4. Describe the common weights of the remaining organs:

a. Lungs

b. Heart

c. Liver

d. Kidneys

e. Brain

5. Describe the stitching used to close up the body after the autopsy is completed:

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 Virtual Autopsy
Post-lab Assignment
Name Laboratory Section
Instructor Lab Period

(1) What is the reason for clearing the intestines and stomach and examining the contents?

(2) Is there another choice for an autopsy if the family insists that the body not be cut for
religious purposes? Describe if there is:

(3) Describe the manner and cause of death in the following examples:

a. A person has died of a heart attack at the age of 76:

Manner - Cause-

b. A person is shot and the femoral artery is severed by the bullet:

Manner - Cause-

c. A person is terminally ill with cancer and overdoses on morphine pills:

Manner - Cause-

Critical Thinking

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 Manner of Death: Homicide, Suicide, Natural, Accident, Undetermined

On March 23rd the medical examiner reviewed the body of Ronald Opus and concluded that he
died from a gunshot wound to the head caused by a shotgun. Investigation to that point had
revealed that the decedent had jumped from the top of a ten-story building with the intent to
commit suicide. (He left a note indicating his despondency.) As he passed the 9th floor on the
way down, his life was interrupted by a shotgun blast through a window, killing him instantly.
Neither the shooter nor the decedent was aware that a safety net had been erected at the 8th floor
level to protect some window washers, and that the decedent would not have been able to
complete his intent to commit suicide because of this.

Ordinarily, a person who starts into motion the events with a suicidal intent ultimately commits
suicide even though the mechanism might be not what he intended. That he was shot on the way
to certain death nine stories below probably would not change his mode of death from suicide to
homicide, but the fact that his suicide intent would not have been achieved under any
circumstance caused the medical examiner to feel that he had homicide on his hands.

Further investigation led to the discovery that the room on the 9th floor from whence the shotgun
blast emanated was occupied by an elderly man and his wife. He was threatening her with the
shotgun because of a spat and became so upset that he could not hold the shotgun straight.
Therefore, when he pulled the trigger, he completely missed his wife, and the pellets went
through the window, striking the decedent.

When one intends to kill subject A, but kills subject B in the attempt, one is guilty of the murder
of subject B. The old man was confronted with this conclusion, but both he and his wife were
adamant in stating that neither knew that the shotgun was loaded. It was the longtime habit of
the old man to threaten his wife with an unloaded shotgun. He had no intent to murder her;
therefore, the killing of the decedent appeared then to be accident. That is, the gun had been
accidentally loaded.

But further Investigation turned up a witness that their son was seen loading the shotgun
approximately six weeks prior to the fatal accident. The investigation showed that the mother
(the old lady) had cut off her son’s financial support, and her son, knowing the propensity of his
father to use the shotgun threateningly, loaded the gun with the expectation that the father would
shoot his mother. The case now becomes one of murder on the part of the son for the death of
Ronald Opus.

Further investigation revealed that the son became increasingly despondent over the failure of his
attempt to get his mother murdered. This led him to jump off the ten story building on March 23,
only to be killed by a shotgun blast through a 9th story window. How did the medical examiner
rule the manner of death?

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Pre-lab Assignment
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Name Laboratory Section
Instructor Lab Period

(1) What is the difference between a coroner and a medical examiner?

(2) What are the ‘manner of death’ options? 

(3) What is the difference between the manner of death and the cause of death?

(4) Can a family request an autopsy? Can they deny the medical examiner's office the right
to perform an autopsy?

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