1. How are autopsies used to determine the cause of death ?
· Autopsies are used to determine the cause of death by opening up the person in a certain way, taking out the organs and measuring and weighing them and looking at the external and internal body to gather up information on how the person could have died. A medical examiner is the person that does the autopsy and they have to determine if the death was natural, accidental, homicide or suicide. They have a system in which they go about doing the autopsy. They will check the outside body for evidence like underneath the fingernails, in the hair, on the person's skin and clothing and they bag that evidence up and send it to labs to be further tested. Then they will look at the internal body (after cutting it) to get a closer look at why the person died. They will take out all the organs and weigh and measure them to see if they are within the regular measurement and weight requirements, they will take pieces of each organ and cut it to be further tested. For example, if it is assumed that a person died of a overdose, the medical examiner will take each organ and test it to see what kind of drugs were in the person’s system at the time of death. After they have studied the body and decided on what the cause of death is, they will close the body back up with the organs inside and put the body back into a body bag and store it until it is ready to be taken wherever.
2. Why are size measurements and weights of organs recorded during...
