POST MORTEM

CHAMGES
REPORTERS: RAZON, REYES, RALA, TORRE, TAALA
 Necessary interdependent systems for life:

Respiratory system

Postmortem = Circulatory system

after death Central nervous system

Clinical death: All three of the above systems must be non-functioning

 Legal death: Can be determined based on absence of neurological
function despite lack of clinical death
 Observation for breathing

Auscultation for heart beat

Palpation for a pulse

Determination Instrumentation
of Clinical Electroencephalogram-measures brain activity
Death Can be misleading in cases of hypothermia due to depressed body
functions
 Electrocardiogram
 Cessation of respiration
Immediate Cessation of circulation
Postmortem Muscular relaxation
Changes Loss of reflexes

Skin pallor (paleness – loss of natural color)

 Dilated pupils
 Early Apparent after one or two hours:

Postmortem Algor mortis – body cooling

Changes (not Livor mortis – discoloration due to blood settling

immediate)  Rigor mortis – stiffening of muscles

 Normal body temperature varies

Body cooling does not occur at a uniform rate

Under average conditions, the body cools at the rate of about 2.0-
Algor Mortis 2.5° F per hour for the first few hours, then slower afterwards.
 Skin cools more rapidly than the inside of the body that is why
the inner body core temperature should be taken at the scene.
 Conduction – Heat transfer by items in contact

Modes of Heat Radiation – Infrared heat transfer

Loss  Convection – Heat transfer by air movement

 Time

Factors Environmental temperature

Affecting Algor Location of body – In water the temperature of a body would drop

Mortis more rapidly, on the ground more slowly due to insulating effect
of soil, etc.

Body type and clothing – obesity or heavy clothing slows cooling

due to insulation
 Humidity and air currents – body exposed to wind will cool
more rapidly
 Discoloration of the skin in lower regions of the body

Usual color of lividity is red-purple

Livor Mortis Begins immediately at death due to lack of circulation

Blood settles due to gravity

 Small vessels and capillaries become congested with blood
 Not generally apparent for 1-2 hours

Fixed (or permanent) after 6-12 hours

Livor Mortis  Blood will not flow to a new region if the body is moved after
livor is fixed, thus inappropriate lividity (livor mortis in an
unexpected location) is an indication that the body has been
moved at least 6-12 hours after death
  Pressure can effect appearance of livor mortis, as pressure can
displace blood in regions that should otherwise be darkened

Livor Mortis
 Red-purple – Normal

Pink – Cyanide or cold

Cherry-red – CO or fluoro-acetate
Livor  Brown – Nitrites or methemoglobin
discoloration 
Note: Livor can be confused with bruises – livor can be drained,
but blood from bruises cannot since the blood has infiltrated the
surrounding tissues and is no longer in the capillaries
  While livor mortis is a poor indicator of time of death, it is
Livor Mortis excellent for determining the place/position of death
  A post-mortem stiffening of the muscles due to lactic acid
causing a cross-linkage between actin and myosin (the proteins
involved in muscle contraction

Rigor Mortis
 ATP generally breaks this cross-linkage, but ATP is depleted
shortly after death
Rigor Mortis  Rigor persists until decomposition begins to break down the
protein complex, thus relaxing the muscles
 Rigor is generally noticeable at ~3 hours, but can be accelerated
by:

Environmental heat
Factors Fever in victim prior to death

Affecting Some drugs

Rigor Exercise prior to death

Can be slowed by:

Cold environment
 Emaciation
 Body warm and flaccid:

<3 hours

Warm and rigid:

Rigor/Algor at 3-8 hours
Average Cold and rigid:
Temperatures 8-36 hours

Cold and flaccid:

 >36 hours
 Temperature

Factors affecting Humidity

decomposition Body location:

 Decomposition rates on land are generally twice as fast as in
water, and eight times as fast as those when a body is buried
due to lack of oxygen and lower temperatures
 Adipocere – “Grave Wax”- Conversion of fats to oleic, palmitic,
or stearic acids (these are waxes, not fats)

Alterations to normal Occurs in damp, warm, anaerobic (no oxygen present)

decomposition environments
 Due to lack of oxygen, other decomposition changes do not
occur
ADIPOCERE
 The process of desiccation of a body

Occurs in exceedingly dry conditions

 Normal decomposition processes prevented due to lack of
water necessary for bacterial growth

MUMMIFICATION