Closest I've ever been to a real autopsy was in a murder mystery. The female pathologist described it in, what I thought, was great detail. I know that's not seeing the real thing but its close enough.
A complete autopsy with labs & other tissue tests is necessary to determine a accurate CAUSE OF DEATH, anything else is guess work.
The very first autopsy I witnessed was a forensic one on a lady who had been stabbed 47 times. The order in which the stabs occurred and which one caused her death had to be determined.
OK but those things all could have occurred after being poisoned to death or after a aortic aneurysm.
As a embalmer I witnessed a botched autopsy performed by a GP who said upon viewing the deceased " Cardiac Stand Still" I replied "Roll Him Over Ray"
I am not sure, but the pathologist said it needed to be done. The entire story: Daughter in the hospital--I don't recall why--and the dad and other daughter went in to the hospital to visit. Mom stayed home as she herself was sick and had missed work. They lived on a dirt road somewhat in the middle of nowhere. There was a knock on the door and mom arose from bed to answer door, as they seldom had visitors, and she apparently thought a neighbor was in some trouble. When she opened the door she was immediately attacked by the man at the door, and stabbed 47 times with a hunting knife. Husband came home after hospital visit with daughter and found his wife dead on the floor. He called the state police and they addressed the murder. I was about 19 or 20 years old at the time, and I happened to be working evening shift in the ER at a local hospital. The coroner came into the ER and asked if anyone was available to assist with an autopsy on a "possible" murder victim. Knowing I could be called into court, I jumped at the chance to assist. We went to the funeral home where the victim had been taken and we worked late into the night. I was attending college at the time, and had class in the morning at 8:00 AM. Anyway, the "rest of the story" was that the mom was a security person at a local Wal-Mart, and had just had a guy arrested for shoplifting. The shoplifter, out on bail or whatever pending his arraignment, was out hunting. He got his car stuck on a dirt road and went to the nearest house to call a buddy to come help him get his car un-stuck. He knocked on the door, and who should answer but the person who had busted him at Wal-Mart. He pulled his sheath knife from his belt and killed the lady, then, now seriously motivated, he got his car freed and went home. I still have the newspaper clipping from that reported the crime in the paper. I was never called as an autopsy witness.
Interesting, but obviously the stab wound(s) were the cause of death, so why would determining the order of the wounds be at issue? I can't imagine how they would even determine which one was #9 and which was #44, or why it would matter.
Well, the stab wounds could have occurred after death and not caused death, or the terror of being stabbed could have induced a stroke or heart attack. Thinking back, @Beth Gallagher, I think perhaps the coroner thought their could be two people involved in the assault since there were so many wounds, and, if so, only one would actually be the murderer. It turned out that that was not the case and the exact wound that caused death was probably irrelevant.
Both superstars had colons that were impacted with large amounts of undigested fecal matter, causing them to be over twice the diameter and 2 to 3 times as long as normal. The Duke had 40 pounds of it in his colon, and Elvis had an estimated 60 pounds. Hal
As one that has witnessed hundreds of autopsies I would say that story about the Duke and Elvis is a load of crap. I have seen lots of impacted bowels & one pound would be exceptional.
Was this before or after the abductions? And I please need an explanation of the term "undigested fecal matter."