Monday, August 22, 2011

Emedinews: Insights on Medicolegal issues - Reconstitution of the body following an autopsy

An important component of the autopsy is the reconstitution of the body such that it can be viewed as normal following the autopsy procedure.

• After the conduction of postmortem examination, the body has an open and empty chest cavity with chest flaps open on both sides, the top of the skull is missing, and the skull flaps are pulled over the face and neck. All organs and tissue must be returned to the body unless permission is given by the family to retain any tissue for further investigation.
• Normally the internal body cavity is lined with cotton wool or an appropriate material; the organs are then placed into a plastic bag to prevent leakage and returned to the body cavity. The chest flaps are then closed and sewn back together and the skull cap is sewed back in place.
• The cases of mutilation/dismembered corpse must be surgically repaired into a normal anatomical position.
• Then the body must be properly sutured and reconstructed by the doctor conducting the autopsy with a cosmetic and parlor touch and then only it should be handed over to the relative of deceased as a regard of human corpse for ritual cremation.

(Contributed by Dr Sudhir Gupta)

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