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| Forensic pathologists
provide valuable information about the manner of death
after the autopsy has been performed. There are four
main categories regarding the manner of death. These
include natural deaths, accidental deaths, homicidal
deaths and suicidal deaths. The information found during
the autopsy not only reveals the causes of death, how,
when and where they occurred, but also shows what manner
it's of. |
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Select one of the following two topics
to read more:
--> Natural
and accidental deaths
--> Homicide
and suicide
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| Natural
And Accidental Deaths |
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| Natural deaths are the
cause of the majority of deaths that occur. The manners
of death in this category include heart failure, disease,
and death during sleep etc. The autopsy reveals certain
aspects of the death, whether it occurred suddenly,
unexpectedly or if the person was critically ill and
hadn't seen a doctor in the last two weeks. Accidental
deaths are common but if the police suspect that the
accident was deliberate or could have been avoided,
a criminal investigation will be conducted. An example
of an accident that could have been avoided is a safety
guard left off a dangerous piece of machinery, as would
be the perfect deliberate accident. |
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Motor vehicle accidents are a large cause of death among
the consequences of alcoholic consumption. Photo courtesy
of www.greenvillecounty.org.
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| Homicide
And Suicide |
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Homicide,
meaning the killing of a human, is regarded as
murder, where the criminal's intention was to
deliberately cause someone's death. Some common
examples of murdering include shooting, stabbing,
smothering, strangling, hitting with a blunt object
and burning. Each weapon leaves distinct marks
on the corpse, which a pathologist may identify
belongs to a certain type of weapon and thus leading
investigators to the actual murder tool. Manslaughter,
where death is not the intention, is however,
also regarded as homicide. Suicide, meaning intentionally
taking one's own life, is in fact illegal, as
is assisting someone else to commit suicide. A
suicide agreement between two people is when it
involves both people claiming their lives together.
If one person, however, survives the attempt,
he/she can be charged with manslaughter, or, unintentional
death. |
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The above was a victim of suicide, as was determined
by anthropologists from the arrangement of bones.
Photo courtesy of Valeri
Craigle and the Spencer
S. Eccles Health Sciences Library.
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