Autopsies: We’ve seen them on TV, but are they an accurate depiction?
Hey guys, Tara here for Dnews - and if you’ve been following the news surrounding the Michael
Brown killing, then you’ve probably heard about the multiple autopsies that have been
requested.
Three, so far.
The first, was done by the county medical examiner’s office.
The second, was requested by the family, and the third one - was conducted by the US Department
of Justice.
Three autopsies is a lot to perform on a single body, so why are they doing this?
What’s the point?
Can additional autopsies really provide new information?
Sometimes, yes.
This is a high-profile case, so it’s understandable that multiple autopsies might be warranted.
But for the most part, as long as the first one was performed correctly, there’s really
no need for a second or third.
In fact, with each subsequent autopsy that gets performed, it actually becomes easier
to misinterpret the findings - because the body is already so mutilated.
Now most of what we know about autopsies comes from television - which isn’t exactly an
accurate picture of what goes on.
So what exactly is the process involved in conducting a thorough autopsy?
There are a lot of steps involved, but in a nutshell - here’s how it works.
Autopsies are performed by forensic pathologists, and they’re generally split into two separate
procedures.
There’s the external examination - where they look at the outside of the body - and
try to find evidence of injury, disease, or anything that appears out of the ordinary.
Anything on the body that’s relevant to the case, like clothing, gunpowder residue,
or DNA from another person, then get sent to a different lab for analysis.
And everything is documented with photographs.
Then, there’s the internal examination - where they literally cut the body open, starting
at the shoulders and going down to the groin.
In a standard autopsy, they’ll look at organs in the chest, abdomen and pelvis.
But if other parts of the body are suspected to be involved in the person’s death, like
the legs or arms or even the brain, then those also get inspected.
The purpose of this, is to examine the patient’s organs.
First, while they’re inside the body - and then again, once they’re removed.
So after cutting through the ribcage, they remove the organs, and weigh them - and that’s
how they point to evidence of disease.
Certain illnesses will cause your organs to swell or shrink - so based on the weight of
an organ, it’s possible for a pathologist to see exactly what type of disease a person
was suffering from, and how advanced that disease was.
Once they’re weighed, the organ gets dissected - again, looking for evidence of anything
abnormal.
And when that’s done, samples of each organ are collected, and preserved in formaldehyde,
so the pathologist can examine them later under a microscope, if it’s deemed necessary.
In some cases, entire organs are preserved - usually the brain or the heart - to be examined
by a specialist later on.
But less than 5% of autopsies actually require that.
Samples of the patient’s blood, urine, and other fluids are also collected - and sent
to a toxicology lab, to look for evidence of drugs, alcohol, or poisonous substances
in a person’s system.
Typically, those samples get held for a year, until they’re destroyed.
While organs, are retained for 5 years, after which they get cremated.
Anything else that’s left, gets put back inside the body, and sent back to the funeral
home - at which point the family is issued an official autopsy report, as well as a certificate
of death.
As gruesome as the whole process is, forensic pathologists have to be very careful when
they perform autopsies.
They’re required to make all of their incisions, such that an open casket funeral can still
be conducted, if the family want it.
Now going back to the case of Michael Brown, three autopsies have already been performed.
But due to the generic pattern of bullet wounds on the body, it’s been difficult to draw
conclusions about what exactly happened.
And unfortunately, the third autopsy may not resolve any of those questions either - since
the damage caused by the first two, has already compromised any relevant evidence.
Now I know this is a lot of information to take in, and it is an incredibly sensitive
subject - but given all the publicity that’s been surrounding this case, I thought it might
be pertinent to explore what exactly is involved in these kinds of procedures.
By the way - you may notice we didn’t include any actual footage of an autopsy in this episode,
for obvious reasons - but if you are so inclined, there are videos of them on YouTube.
Just be prepared.
They are insanely gruesome.
So, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
In the meantime, if you guys have any questions, or anything that needs clarification, you
can leave em in the comments.
Otherwise, thank for watching!