“See For Yourself” about Autopsies
With Michael Jackson’s surprising death and now the shocking news about the death of TV-pitchman Billy Mays (the guy with the loud voice, a penchant for cleaning products, and the blackest beard and hair you’ll ever see), autopsies are being performed to determine the causes of death.
For the general public, an autopsy (loosely translated from Greek to mean “to see for oneself”) seems commonplace thanks to celebrity deaths and TV shows, but it’s a fairly gruesome process. On TV, a detective usually pops into a morgue where a wisecracking coroner with no fear of squeamish things bites into a sandwich as he stares at a dead, naked body. Within a minute, he tells the detective how the guy died, ridicules everyone for not knowing, and everybody goes on with their business. Needless to say, it doesn’t quite work that way.
There are two types of autopsies, which are a very graphic process. The above scenario would depict the beginning of a forensic autopsy, the kind used for police investigation. In those cases, extreme care and inspection is performed on the external portion of the body before any tampering. Only afterward does the medical examiner open the body.
Clinical autopsies are performed by pathologists or physicians for research or training after a cause of death has already been determined.
Both types involve severe internal inspection including sawing the chest cavity, removing the organs (either all or some depending on the circumstance), sawing of the skull, brain removal, and then somehow reconstituting the entire body for proper viewing if necessary.
Upon completion of an autopsy, cause of death must be put into one of five categories 1:
- natural
- accident
- homicide
- suicide
- undetermined
While not the greatest subject to start the work week, at least you’ll be a little more equipped for conversation today than the guy who only watches Quincy reruns.
(above photo taken from http://lankie.com/billy-mays-here-for%E2%80%A6-insert-product-here/)
Read on:
HowStuffWorks.com – How Autopsies Work
Pathguy.com – Autopsy (excellent step-by-step explanation of the process)
FoxNews.com – ‘Infomercial King’ Billy Mays Found Dead in Home
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment