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Death Investigations Check-in

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Last updated 10 months ago
12 questions
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2
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Question 1
1.

Describe the 5 stages of decomposition. Be sure to include details about what occurs at each stage (5-6 sentences).

Question 2
2.

Estimate the PMI of the following body and justify your estimate (1-2 sentences):

A very lean gymnast collapsed while exercising at home in their poorly ventilated, 35°C garage. Upon arrival, the medical examiner noticed rigor in the arms and small muscles of the face and hands.

Question 3
3.

Select all of the following that are duties of a forensic pathologist:

Question 4
4.

The following map shows which individual is responsible for medicolegal death investigations within the United States:
According to the figure, California's death investigations are primarily overseen by _________.

Question 5
5.
  • Internal temperature of the woman's liver: 22.2°C
  • Average body temperature = 37.0 °C.
  • Cooling rate for initial 12 hours after death = 0.78 °C/hour
  • Cooling rate after 12 hours = 0.39 °C/hour
PMI = _______ hours (round to nearest whole number)

The woman's boyfriend claims that he should be excluded from the list of suspects because he was seen at work at 8 am the previous day, and his work is a 1 hour commute from the location where the body was found. Is his claim reasonable?
_______ (type "yes" or "no")
Question 6
6.
A body was fished out of a lake last night at approximately 1 am. The medical examiner recorded the internal temperature of the liver upon arrival as 28.42 °C. Estimate the PMI for the body found at the scene.

Recall that a body loses 0.78 °C/hour for the first 12 hours, and 0.39 °C/hour afterwards. Average body temperature is 37.0 °C.

_______ hours (exact answer)

Given the circumstances, should the forensic pathologist increase or decrease the calculated PMI estimate? _______ (type "increase" or "decrease")
Question 7
7.
The __________ of death can be natural death, accidental death, suicidal death, homicidal death, or undetermined.
Question 8
8.

Match the terms to their corresponding descriptions.

Draggable itemarrow_right_altCorresponding Item
algor mortis
arrow_right_alt
pooling of blood in the lowermost parts of the body after circulation ceases postmortem
livor mortis
arrow_right_alt
stiffening of muscles beginning 2-5 hours after death
rigor mortis
arrow_right_alt
gradual cooling of the body after death
Question 9
9.
Red spots in the whites of the eyes are symptoms associated with __________ as a cause of death.
Question 10
10.

Order the following situations from shortest PMI (top) to longest PMI (bottom).

  1. rigor mortis noted in fingers and eyes only; internal temperature of liver 35.6°C
  2. entire body is rigid
  3. rigor is apparent in thighs, glutes, and abdominal muscles only
Question 11
11.
Label the following areas on the skeleton. Not all terms will be used.
Other Answer Choices:
sacrum
humerus
ulna
fibula
mandible
tibia
pelvis
maxilla
radius
sternum
femur
Question 12
12.

Select 2 of the following statements that are true about autopsies: