ABSTRACT
Biological forensic indicators (e.g., beetles) Bloat Blood stain pattern analysis Body ¯uids and waste products Botanical transfer and positional indicators Cause of death statement Cleanup and disposal Decay and its properties Decomposition Dehydration and autolysis Desquamation Discoloration and foul smell Disintegration Exudates and skin blisters Fatal agent (pathological/etiological agent) Fatal derangement (pathological process) Heart-lung death Hemoglobin reduction Immediate cause of death (line a on death certiŽcate) Iris reactivity Livor and lividity; livor mortis Manner, mechanism, mode of death Molecular pathology NonspeciŽc anatomical process (structural) NonspeciŽc physiological process (functional) Palliation with and without narcotics Periprocedural death Profound coma and brain death Purge and purging Putrefaction Putrefaction and purging Putrid QualiŽed cause of death statement Qualifying-probable, presumed, unknown, unspeciŽed, undeter-
mined, unwitnessed, unrecorded, uncertain Radionuclide tracer Retinal boxcar red cells Rigor mortis and loss of ATP Risk factors-medical, behavioral, environmental, demographic Sanitation SpeciŽc condition and speciŽc paradox (incorrect citation) Split format of certiŽcation-duplications of statements Steam cleaning
SuperŽcial venous patterns Surface anatomy and pathology Swelling and gaseous decomposition Taches noires and global so¤ening Terminal event/mechanistic terminal event Time since death indicators Vitreous potassium Wound interpretation
‡e College of American Pathologists (www.cap.org) has a number of publications worth reviewing:
Aiding the Living by Understanding Death [Brochure] Autopsy Performance and Reporting, 2nd ed. CAP Handbook for the Postmortem Identi†cation of Unidenti†ed
Remains, 2nd ed. Cause of Death and Death Certi†cation: Important Information for
Physicians, Coroners, Medical Examiners, and the Public, edited by R. Hanzlick, 2006.
