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| Cause
Of Death |
| The cause of death refers
to why death occurred (e.g. due to excessive loss of blood) and shouldn't
be confused with how the victim was killed i.e. the manner of death.
A variety of measures are taken by coroners/pathologusts to establish
whether the manner of death was accidental, natural, suicide or murder,
depending on the situation and case type. |
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Select one of the folowing topics for more information:
--> The
causes
--> Arson
victims
--> Victims
hanged
--> Victims
drowned
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| Copyright
2004-2005 Thinkquest Team 00206 |
| The
Causes |
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| An autopsy is generally the most accurate
method available to determine the cause of death during murder cases
and consequently, whether the fatality was innocent or in fact a disguised
murder. Different measures are taken under different situations and
with it being rather difficult to explain every single scenario possible,
below are some common examples, which may likely perk your interest. |
| Copyright
2004-2005 Thinkquest Team 00206 |
| Scenario
One (Arson Victims) |
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| When dealing with a
body found at the scene of a fire, the corpse is firstly examined
for any traces of soot present in the breathing passage. The presence
of soot would suggest that death was caused via asphyxiation, whereby
the victim dies to due to a lack of oxygen.
Next, blood samples are analysed for the presence of carbon
monoxide, cyanide
or other poisons in the bloodstream, indicating a death caused by
cyanide poisoning, generally a result of the burning of synthetic
materials, usually furniture. In other cases, burns on the corpse
with inflamed edges (caused by red blood cells trying to repair the
burned skin), would suggest that the victim died from burns. Wounds
and lacerations on the body would at first seem to have been a result
of the fire, however, if signs of underlying bleeding are present,
it would conclude that the victim was already dead before the fire
began and the arson may have been a means to cover up a more sinister
crime.
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| Copyright
2004-2005 Thinkquest Team 00206 |
| Scenario
Two (Victims Hanged) |
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A body discovered hanging or suspended
in some way, usually contains telltale signs of a death due to the
lack of oxygen. These include such signs as blue skin colour, burst
blood vessels in the eyes and inflated lungs. Forensic pathologists
examine the rope marks on the neck to determine if they contain
evidently inflamed edges, a sign that the victim was alive before
being hanged. However, when no inflammation marks are present, it
suggests that the victim was dead before being hanged and the hanging
was a form of cover up. The rope marks on the victim's neck are
examined to check that they match the rope found at the scene of
crime. The slightest difference of the rope impression from the
actual rope itself, would undoubtedly imply that the rope was not
the murder tool and where the victim did die of a lack of oxygen
and does have evident bruises on the neck, the murder weapon is
sought using the markings as a guide. As a general rule, all rope
markings on the neck should be in the shape of an upside down V,
where the knot would cause a bruise on the back of the neck, creating
the point of the V.
Other facts pointing to murder may also be revealed when an examination
of the neck is carried out. Strangulation usually breaks the hyoid
bone located in the neck, but the bone is very rarely broken during
hanging. The breakage of the hyoid would suggest manual strangulation,
whereby the victim was strangled using the hands, or via means of
another implement (e.g. cord, belt etc). When strangulation is the
case, death may be caused due to a lack of air, but more likely,
as a result of the deliberate compression of the neck, causing a
vegal inhabitation, the situation where the stimulation of the neck's
vagus
nerve causes the heart to stop. In cases where the hyoid
bone is not broken, but bruising is evident around the nose and
mouth, a death caused by smothering is indicated, thereby dying
due to a lack of oxygen.
|
| Copyright
2004-2005 Thinkquest Team 00206 |
| Scenario
Three (Victims Drowned) |
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| Bodies discovered in the water are examined
to see whether water is actually present in the airway and stomach
of the victim and if the lungs have swollen up. If such signs
are apparent, then the victim did actually die due to drowning,
although whether it was murder or accidental will be left for
investigators to determine. Further examination of the corpse
will reveal if bleeding occurred in the lungs, suggesting that
there was a struggle for breath during the drowning. Other signs
coroners pick up are such things as leaves, twigs or other objects
near the death scene, found grasped in the victims hands, indicating
that the victim tried to clutch an object to save themselves.
However, in the case that an examination of the larynx
reveals that a spasm occurred, the victim may have died from
sudden exposure to the cold, which caused an immediate heart
attack. To reveal whether bodies were alive or dead upon entering
the water, an analysis of single celled algae,
(known as diatoms) is performed. Certain diatoms found in
the body are compared against those found in the water and
if these samples match, then the body was alive upon entering
the water, but if otherwise, the body was dead upon entering
the water and the coroners will continue searching for other
injuries that may point to murder.
In some cases, hypothermia
may have been the cause of death rather than drowning. When
the core temperature of the human body drops below 305K, the
motion of the enzymes in the body begins to slow down and
hypothermia is the eventual result of prolonged exposure to
the cold. Below is a table of estimated survival times in
water against the water temperature:
| Liquid
Temperature (degrees Celcius) |
Estimated
Hours of Survival |
| 0 |
0.25 - 0.75 |
| 0 - 4 |
0.5 -1.5 |
| 4 - 10 |
1.0 - 3.0 |
| 10 - 16 |
1.0 - 6.0 |
| 16 - 21 |
2.0 -40 |
| 21 - 27 |
> 3.0 |
| > 27 |
Undeterminable |
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