ABSTRACT
Lethal hypothermia is most likely to be caused by accidental exposure to low environmental temperatures, contributed to by inadequate or wet clothing, and damp or windy conditions. The environmental factors may be exacerbated by many other factors, individually or together including low body mass index, trauma, extremes of age and underlying medical conditions. At post-mortem, findings are often non-specific include superficial gastric lesions (Wischnewski spots), pink discoloration of the skin often over the large joints, acute pancreatic inflammation with fat necrosis, fatty change in cells of the heart, liver and kidneys, skeletal muscle hemorrhage and vacuolization of renal tubular cells. The circumstances predating the finding of the deceased may be crucial in determining how the hypothermia developed and confirming it as the cause of death.
