The latest in my ‘Learn Something New Every Day’ series… Taken from The Great Courses’ Trails of Evidence – How Forensic Science Works lecture series (Lecture 21 Autopsy)
It is standard following autopsy for all the removed and examined organs to be bundled into a plastic bag and re-placed in the chest cavity before the body is sewed up. This is so that the chest of the person doesn’t sag inwards in the event the body is going to be displayed in an open casket at the funeral. I find this sensible and disturbing in equal measure.
Similarly, great care is taken to return the scalp/skull of someone carefully but there’s no guarantee the brain is in there, because pathology analysis of it might go on longer than the general autopsy period.
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