Yearly Archives: 2016

We’re back with Part Two! If you missed Part One, go ahead and check that out here. As always, if you have any questions for our Coroner, go ahead and ask them here!

Now on to the good stuff:

Q: “Doing some research for a television program — do body bags come with a name tag on the exterior? If so, when did that become common practice? Is the toe tag still the dominant method for identifying the deceased?”

A: No, no and no.

We have never done a toe tag… In my 20+ years I’ve never even seen a toe tag (that I recall).  I write with a sharpie marker on the outside of the body bag, the person’s name, date and my initials.  Some places have medical wrist bands that they use.  Some places have a sticker that is filled out and goes on the body bag.  I’m more than certain people still use toe tags somewhere – just not here.  Also, a lot of the bigger jurisdictions have moved to a bar coding system – so, the wrist band and/or body bag has a bar code which is scanned for identification purposes.

Q: “A deputy coroner chose not to order an autopsy on a 63 year old deceased male because his head and neck were cyanotic. He described the blue color of the head and neck as the cardiac collar, indicating the man died from a heart attack. No tox screen was performed and the man was embalmed and buried. The man’s will is now being contested and his family is making death threats against the attorney trying to investigate the death. Any thoughts on possible causes of death and the “cardiac collar” theory?”

A: When blood flow is restricted because of a blockage in one of the coronary arteries there is often a bluish/purplish distinct tint that begins at approximately the nipple line and goes up – especially if the person is lying on a bed or on the floor, and the head is resting somewhat below the level of the chest – which causes the blood to pool in that area.  It is a distinct sign of sudden cardiac death.  The family should not make death threats – that’s bad form.  The attorney will not be able to change the cause of death.  Simply get a copy of the coroner’s report in addition to the death certificate.  I can’t even begin to guess at a cause of death.  However, I would suggest a more ‘blanket’ type cause of death such as atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease or hypertensive cardiovascular disease in a case such as this.  Using acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) is specific and really should only be used if it is a known blood clot or complete blockage in one of the coronary arteries.  Given the information you provided, however, it’s probably a fair assumption.

Q: “Will the coroner’s office try to figure out whether the deceased had life insurance before they hand over the body to the state? This would be in order to see whom the beneficiary is (either family they had not been able to locate who can then make arrangements; or the funeral home so they can have a proper burial?). Will the funeral home be notified so they can file a claim for burial/cremation?”

A: Several things to say here: We don’t look for life insurance before releasing the body for disposition at the cost of the state.  What happens, is we hold the body for a long time and exhaust all efforts to find the next of kin.  If no one is ultimately found, the body is released for disposition at the cost of the state and ALL assets are seized by the state.  If someone is found and wants nothing to do with the body – they sign away all rights to all assets and the body is buried/cremated by the state.  Generally, if there is a life insurance beneficiary that person is in a position to be able to cover the nominal costs of a direct cremation if nothing else.

Q: “This question is a personal and honestly depicted scenario about suicide. Please be extremely honest and I will explain further should you require it. Please tell me if a male who is over 6ft commits suicide by hanging .. outside in the woods and is there undiscovered for approx 14-16 days what would he look like … based on normal animal, weather and decomposition, I really need to know because something is bugging me about this.”

A: I will be as blunt as possible to answer your question as directly as I can.  My answer is: I don’t know.  I would need to know many more things. Are we talking outside in the woods in Florida for 16 days or outside in the woods in Northern Maine for 16 days?  Are we talking July or November?  Are we talking hanging with suspension or hanging with feet on the ground? With some more information, I might be able to answer this question more thoroughly. Feel free to email askacoroner@gmail.com and I will try to help you some more.

Q: “Is it true that the legs will cross if a person dies while standing?”

A: No.

Q: “My son drowned 10 years ago and was in a river for 3-4 days before he was found. He was not embalmed, and buried in a coffin. What would the condition of his body/ bones be now?”

A: First off, my sincerest condolences for the loss of your son. Decomposition is usually slowed while the body is still in the water and then accelerated considerably when out of the water.  After 10 years, and not embalmed, my thought is that he is mostly skeletonized at this point. Again, I’m so sorry.

Q: “I am doing research for a book I am writing….just a quick question, that you may or may not be able to answer: If a person who has emphysema, is on breathing treatments to open his lungs to be able to breath, along with oxygen and was suffocated, is this something that would show up in an autopsy, or would the other conditions probably make this undetectable?”

A: My first thought is, “why is someone with emphysema and oxygen dependent being autopsied  in the first place?”  There has to be more to the story to even consider an autopsy of someone with that kind of medical history.

Q: “Can forensic autopsy prove that a newborn infant has been purposely smothered/suffocated? If so how does the coroner reach the conclusion that the infant did not die of “natural causes.”‘

A: “Sometimes” is my best answer. Sometimes there is blanching where the nose and mouth were covered.  Sometimes there are frenulum tears.  Sometimes it is just scene interpretation and personal interviews that leads to a diagnosis of suffocation.

Thanks for reading! Stick around (subscribe to our site to receive email notifications) for Part 3 which will be published soon. Keep the questions coming!

We have received SO many questions – very interesting ones at that! For those new to this site, Jacquie is a Coroner in Kendall County, Illinois. She has dedicated most of her life working in the death industry. Here, she spends time talking about various aspects of death. Many questions asked by users on an anonymous internet forum, along with her stories, information and advice have been published in the book, “Spoiler Alert: You’re Gonna Die“. Since the book release, she has continued answering them here on the blog. We have received hundreds of questions from all over the world. If you have one of your own, we invite you to go ahead and ask here.

Now, let’s get right in to the good stuff!

Q: “Hey Jacquie! I first read about you on BHB, so of course had to buy your book. I read it in one day and loved it. It’s awesome, and so are you! Thank you for starting this conversation and bringing awareness to this very important and unavoidable topic. It really got me thinking about my own death.

Which brings me to my question. Naturally, after reading your book, I tried talking to my husband about making plans and at least having a general idea of being prepared for “when the time comes” for us. It’s something we’ve never discussed. We don’t have a will or anything either. So when I brought it up, I just said that this book was eye-opening, made me think, etc. and that I think it’s important to think about and discuss. He just closed off completely and got stubborn and defensive. He then refused to talk about it. I can kind of understand where he’s coming from, because his mother died young about 14 years ago from complications after a liver transplant when he was 20. They were extremely close, and it was (and still is) very difficult for him to deal with. I’ve fortunately not yet experienced the death of a parent or anyone else very close to me. I want to have this conversation with him, but I know it’s painful for him to talk or even think about death. I mean, it’s not something I like thinking about, either, but it’s kind of important. He says he doesn’t want to feel pressured/shamed/guilted into talking about something he’s not comfortable thinking about. (I did none of those things when I brought up the topic – all I said was, hey this is something we should talk about.) The last thing I want to do is bring up bad or painful memories for him, but I do want to have some sort of plan to help alleviate that worry down the road (for both of us). I have no idea what his thoughts are about his own death. Does he want to be buried, and if so, where? Or does he want to be cremated, and if so, what does he want done with the cremains? It just makes me nervous/anxious thinking about it obviously, because even though I don’t want to think about him dying in the first place, it makes it so much more difficult not even having a general idea of what he would want because he refuses to talk about it.

I can’t force him to talk about this, but where do I go from here? Do you have any suggestions for ways I can gently talk about this without making him feel pressured? I feel like there’s no easy way to talk about this stuff. But I want to establish a “plan” for myself at the very least, and I do plan on writing some of this stuff down. I’m just at a loss as to what to do when it comes to my husband.

Anyway, thanks so much for everything you do! I can only hope that the coroner in charge of handling my death is as wonderful, compassionate, and caring as you are.”

A: Honestly, one of the best suggestions I can think of is to make your own plans for him. Write them all down, then show them to him. If he doesn’t have any opinions, seeing your ideas might make him start thinking and compel him form some of his own. If you really want to get him to participate, make sure the plans you create are absolutely terrible. I am sure he’ll object if you tell him you want to have his body stuffed to be on display in the living room, or that you want his remains turned in to a toilet paper holder. When he does, tell him it’s happening unless he comes up with something better. Thank you for your kind words! I’m sorry to hear of his loss. Death is a painful topic for many people, but when it comes to the details, there really isn’t any easy way to sugarcoat it.

Q: “During an autopsy are AIDS and Hepatitis automatically checked for? Are toxicology and blood tests (for disease) run even if they find something catastrophic early on?”

A: AIDS is never routinely checked for.  Even with clinical history – we don’t check for it. We’ll make note that the person has a clinical diagnosis of AIDS.  Hepatitis is a very broad term for inflammation/diseases of the liver, and hepatitis is often seen. We don’t necessarily test for which type of hepatitis unless microscopic studies are needed for some reason.

Q: “How many deaths do you see with pineal lesion or cyst, also with hemiplegic migraine?”

A: Personally, I’ve never seen a Pineal Lesion or cyst (Pineal Gland Lesions are rare and cause symptoms like headaches, seizures, emesis and paralysis of upward gaze.) The doctors and techs I work with, in other counties, have seen them. Again, very rare.  Hemiplegic Migraine, (which causes weakness on one side of the body during a migraine), I haven’t ever come across.

Q: “What are the rules regarding what information a coroner can disclose, and who they can disclose it to? What about cases of suicide?”

A: It depends on the state you are in.  In IL, each case is considered public record and can be disclosed to anyone who asks.  Generally, people don’t ask… but, if they do, we have to let them see it or provide copies.  Certain copies (autopsy reports, toxicology reports, coroner reports, etc.) have a fee set by state statute – so, people have to pay the fees to get copies of those reports.  The only thing we don’t give out is a copy of the death certificate which is considered to be a vital record and not public record.

Q: “I’m writing a novel and it the detective wants to know if a murder victim had sexual intercourse before his demise. Is there a way the medical examiner can determine that and how? Thank you.”

A: For a male, I believe the only way would be to swab the inside of the urethra for sperm and to swab the outside for DNA for another person (female or male).

Q: “If you were choosing a career field now, would you choose this career? Why or why not?”

A: No, if I could choose any career, I would want to be my husband’s smartphone so he’d interact with me more.

Honestly, though, I would probably choose something similar, but not this actual career.  I’d likely go into forensic genetics.  Reasons?  1) Hours. 2) Pay.

Q: “Can a coroner’s report detail the exact benzo or opiate that was in your system, or will the class of the drug just be listed? If they don’t know, will they just list the class instead of the exact name of drug? I’ve seen reports with both.”

A: All forensic labs have testing limits.  So, for easy math, let’s pretend the testing limit for the blood is 1.0 and the actual level found in the body is 0.75 – then, no – it won’t be listed in the blood because it doesn’t meet the reporting limit. However, if there is a urine sample provided with the blood sample – then, the urine sample will show positive/negative results and it will show positive for the actual drug classification.  That’s probably why you have seen reports with both.  However, if we pretend the drug met the testing limit, let’s say in this case it was heroin, then the blood results will show morphine with an actual level, plus another agent that is usually used to cut the heroin, (let’s say codeine), plus we will see 6-monoacetylmorphine (6-MAM) which always indicates heroin.  The urine will simply show positive for opiates and positive for 6-MAM.  But, we will also see a positive for opiates in the blood.  I hope that makes some sense.

Q: “Would a person who Over dosed on a speedball know what is happening to them?”

A: No. They would eventually just go to sleep/pass out and their body systems would shut down slowly.

Q: “How is the corpse’s hair prepared for a showing?”

A: For a woman, usually a funeral home contracts with a hairdresser who comes in and does the hair.  The hair is washed during the embalming process.  It is combed straight through.  The hair dresser will use curling irons, flat irons, etc. to style the hair according to the family’s wishes.  Men’s hair is simply combed.

Q: “If a person colors/dyes their hair, does the dye seep through the scalp onto the skull cap and then color the skull cap (multicolor)?”

A: No. Not at all.

Q: “I’m an absolute mess….have been for over 6 months….I not only have extreme torso bloating…I am all bones from the chest up. Severe pain that only aspirin and milk seem to help…any ideas…thanks..!!”

A: WAT? Umm, I’d recommend you see an internist…

Q: “For what reason would you open a person’s back and legs during an autopsy?”

A: We would open the legs looking for deep vein thrombosis.  We would open the back looking for deep tissue injury in the event of an in-custody beating or something like that.  Mostly we can see the back wall from the inside when we have the chest open and the organs removed – so, anything pertinent will be seen.  There’s very little reason to open the back.  In child abuse cases, we will make thin slices (called fileting) from the top of the shoulders, long ways, to the bottom of the thighs, looking for deep tissue bruising from severe abuse.  Depending on the size of the child you could have anywhere from 10 to 20 or so ‘slices’ down the back. It is very sad.

More questions will be posted soon. If reading these triggered a few questions of your own, go ahead and ask them! Thanks for reading & sharing.

(If you sent a question requiring a personal reply, check your email, as some were sent out today. If you still haven’t received a response, send an email to askacoroner@gmail.com)

Hey everyone,

I know, I know, it has been a while! We are so sorry to have been missing these last few months. Things have been a whirlwind, but we’re still breathing and have a lot of exciting news!

As many of you know, Jacquie has been campaigning to be her county’s next coroner. With the retirement of her boss, she decided to throw her hat in the ring this election,AND WON! In typical writer fashion, I asked her for an “official comment” on the election. She always has something good to say, I swear. “My treasurer told me to trust my voters and I did. That gave me a lot of comfort on election night. I was prepared for the ebb /flow of the results, but that didn’t happen…I started with a lead and as the night went on that lead got bigger and stronger. I was SO happy and thankful to everyone who supported and believed in me. I will assume the office of Coroner on December 1 and have huge plans for making this office the biggest and best ever. It’s odd…I’m probably the only elected coroner who doesn’t think we should have coroners (I still think regional medical examiners makes the most sense), but as long as we have a coroner system I am going to do my very best to make sure that our office and county are represented as top notch and go from there.”

Campaigning, working full time, parenting and so much more has pulled us away from this blog and our book. We are finally getting back in to the swing of things. Some of you have noticed the print version is no longer available on Amazon and other vendor sites. We are currently working on a new layout, so the print has been pulled. The feedback we received on the book has been absolutely amazing! But, it was brought to our attention that the inside was lacking the look and interest that both the cover and the writing possessed. Honestly, it fell flat, and we 100% agreed. So, we have decided to re-format the entire book to make it match the heart and tone we have set everything else at. While this process is underway we have been making some changes and additions to the text – so it will look and feel like a whole new book! If you have read the book and would like to offer any feedback, shoot us an email at askacoroner@gmail.com (or leave an amazon review – we don’t obsessively check those or anything…). We take your words seriously, and they are so appreciated.

So many questions have come in over these last couple months. Jacquie is working tirelessly on answering each and every one. I will be putting out a few blog posts with the questions and her answers very soon, so keep your eyes peeled. I want to apologize for taking so long to get back to everyone. If you don’t see your question answered over the next few weeks, please feel free to send us a direct email and we will work to get the answer. askacoroner@gmail.com

Thanks again everyone! You’ll be seeing more of us around here!

-Korttany

So, there’s this coroner who invited thousands of strangers to ask her questions about death. Sounds like a pretty weird invitation, right? My first thought upon discovering this, was, “What kind of weirdo’s actually want to talk about death?” I, myself, had done a pretty good job at completely avoiding any and every aspect of death, and thoroughly intended to keep it that way. However, my curiosity was piqued and I had a bit of time on my hands, so I began reading. Plus, I kind of wanted to see what types of questions these death crazed maniacs were asking.
One of the first question was from someone wondering the strangest thing the coroner had ever found in a body. Jacquie, the coroner, replied, “A fun-sized Snickers bar and a remote control. It was pretty awkward returning that remote to the family…” Another person chimed in and said, “Wait, you returned the remote, but what did you do with the Snickers?” Jacquie quickly replied, “I ate the Snickers bar.”  *Insert face of shock and horror*

It was at that moment that I became hooked (and found myself thinking, “No friggin’ way! Is this real life?!” Over and over again). This coroner was clearly hilarious, and the questions were both interesting and informative. I figured, “hey, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,” and spent the next few days delving in to this collection of questions and answers. There were plenty of interesting questions about if Jacquie had ever encountered ghosts, the unsolvable or scary cases she has worked, how she would like to die, and how in the world did she ever decide to become a coroner? Mixed in were heartfelt stories of people who had experienced loss. There were things they had always wondered about and needed the answers to help with their healing journey. Others were genuinely curious about the options we all have for our body when we die and the pure logistics of how the process actually works. One person even asked how a decomposing body really smells? (I can guarantee the coroner’s explanation is not what you think, and entirely doable for you folks who want experience it at home. Any DIYers in the room?)

I found a few things to be interesting about all of this dialogue: It was entirely death focused. The stories, the information, the questions and even the humor. Here was a group of random strangers (whom, to my surprise, weren’t death freaks at all, but every day, normal people, just like me,) conversing about a subject that most everyone avoids. And everyone was having a good time! I learned that there are so many different aspects to death, and while many are sad, heartfelt and meaningful, there is also an entirely different side that includes laughter and jokes and curiosity. A side I had never experienced before. This lighthearted approach tempered the typical depressing (and easily avoidable) aspects, allowing us all to become comfortable with talking about it and encouraging us to really start viewing death in an entirely new way. And that, was my ah-ha” moment. I suddenly realized that everyone needs to be talking about death – and this book, Spoiler Alert: You’re Gonna Die, was my golden ticket to this new reality.

The fact of the matter is, as the title states, we are all going to die. And there is actually a ton of stuff we should be doing to prepare for the inevitable. But, because many of us love to avoid the issue, most people never prepare at all. And even more of us don’t even know how  to prepare. By the end of the book, I walked away with an entirely new perspective on life and death, as well as a complete understanding of what is actually expected of me before I pass. All while having a few laughs! The book also offers a guide to planning the details of what you want to have happen when you die, as recommended by a coroner. It’s an entirely new take on death, and one that truly changed me after I experienced all it had to offer. Bonus – I am now able to talk about this stuff with all my friends, and at these newly discovered death café’s (which you should all totally be checking out, by the way,) because I have an arsenal of crazy interesting stories and the book itself to talk about. As it turns out, we’re all just a bunch of crazy death freaks who can’t resist juicy stories about Snickers bars in bodies, death poops, and that one guy who died naturally while committing suicide.

In case you’re wondering, the book is called, Spoiler Alert: You’re Gonna Die. It’s available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Itunes, etc. Jacquie still answers questions, and you can submit yours/learn more on her site, www.askacoroner.com

(This post was submitted to the site by a reader. Thank you!)