BrainStuff, I have a deeply concerning question
for you today. What happens when I die? And
I don’t mean like “will I go to heaven?”
or “who gets all my Groo comic books?”
No, I want to know what somebody’s going
to do with my dead body when it’s on a slab
of cold steel. How does an autopsy work?
First of all, a word of warning for our viewers.
If you're squeamish, you might want to watch
a less-gross episode of BrainStuff. Like "Why
is bird poop white? Or "How do bed bugs work?"
Okay. Ready?
Let’s clarify that an autopsy is a medical
examination of a dead body to determine the
cause of death. There’s two types: forensic
and clinical.
Clinical ones are performed for research,
medical training, or at the request of the
deceased’s family. And forensic autopsies
are the ones you’re used to seeing on TV,
like when Agent Scully carves into a corpse
because the truth is in there. This is often
for legal reasons, potentially as evidence
in criminal or civil court cases.
While the general procedure is similar, for
our purposes, let’s stick to forensic autopsies.
Why? 'Cause I ain’t going out like a punk!
All legally investigated deaths fall into
5 categories: natural, accident, homicide,
suicide and undetermined. Yeah, that last
one may seem a little wishy-washy, but sometimes
the answers aren’t that clear for the attending
medical examiner or coroner.
And this is an important distinction. Forensic
pathologists are physicians, trained to perform
autopsies.
In some counties they use “coroners” instead.
And a coroner doesn’t necessarily have medical
training. Instead, they’re elected to their
position. They can be anyone: farmers, snake
handlers, even YouTube hosts… But if a non-medical
coroner ever needs assistance, the state usually
provides them with a medical examiner.
When that examiner finally gets ahold of your
cold body, here’s what they’ll do to it.
First they gather information on you, your
death and your medical records. Then they
record an external exam of your appearance.
They start by photographing you inside a body
bag, noting your clothing and its position
before stripping you naked. They try to establish
your identity, noting ethnicity, gender, age,
and hair and eye color. Then they collect
samples of hair, fingernails and any foreign
objects found on your surface.
Once the external exam is done, they clean
your body, weigh it and measure it. On the
table they place a rubber body block under
your back to make your chest protrude forward
so the arms and neck fall back. This makes
it easier... for the cutting!
For a complete internal exam they start with
the chest, making a Y-shaped incision. Following
this, they peel back your skin, muscle and
soft tissue with a scalpel, pull the chest
flap over your face and expose your ribcage
and neck muscles.
Your ribcage is then removed, followed by
your larynx, esophagus, arteries and ligaments.
By severing a few attachments to your spinal
cord, bladder, and rectum, the examiner can
remove the rest of your organs as an entire
set.
Your organs are each examined and weighed,
with sample slices taken of their tissue.
If necessary, these organs are stored in formalin.
Depending on how you died, they probably won’t
cut open your arms, hands, legs or face.
But don’t think your head is off the hook
just yet. If they need a peek inside your
noggin, the examiner will move the rubber
block under your neck like a pillow. Then
they make a cut from behind one ear, across
your forehead, over to the other ear and around
the back.
Then out comes the electric saw to pop the
top of your skull off like a cap and expose
your brain. This is severed from your spinal
cord and then lifted out, Frankenstein style.
Just like your other organs, it’s weighed
and examined.
What happens to all of those organs, sitting
outside of your body anyway? Well, depending
on the style of funeral, they’re either
put back in or incinerated. Either way, the
butterflied chest flaps are closed, the skull
cap is placed back on your head and everything
is sewn up nice and tidy with a baseball stitch.
Though even after your body goes off to the
funeral home, a pathologist’s work is never
done. It takes days to get tissue and blood
samples tested and at least two weeks for
brain samples. Then it takes hours more to
write up a detailed report for the official
record.
Keep in mind that this is a brief overview
of the autopsy process. We didn’t even get
into examining wounds, determining the time
of death, or what tools of the trade are used
to crack you open.
But after all that, I’ve got to ask: What
do you want them to do with your body afterward?
Bury it? Burn it? Dump it into the sea? Let
us know in the comments below. And for more
on cutting flesh, sewing and forensic testing,
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at HowStuffWorks.com
