Questions continue in and answers continue out:
A family member of mine was identified by his tattoos over the phone by a coroner. Would we still be allowed to go to the coroner’s office to officially identify him and make sure it’s him?
I am not sure. I allow family viewings in our office, however, we are a smaller jurisdiction. Some larger jurisdictions simply can’t accommodate that sort of thing and would ask you to have all viewings at the funeral home. You can ask that the funeral home provide you with an opportunity for a quick family viewing – even without a regular public viewing.
My brother died a few months ago of what I think was suspicious accident. I have received the death certificate, but no coroners report. Why would this be?
Did you ask for a coroner’s report? Also, depending on the jurisdiction, you may have to pay for a copy of the report. Contact the coroner’s office and ask to review the file.
My husband passed away at home and when the coroner came I explained I was his spouse. My mother-in-law called me and told me that “unless I was willing to take financial responsibility for his burial, I need to call the coroner to tell them that I lied about being his wife.” I listened to her. It broke my heart to lie about not being his wife and I am feeling kind of helpless. Please help me to understand why I should have lied and what is going on?
If you are indeed his wife, you should be listed as such on the death certificate. You also need to make sure you have certified copies of death certificates because any minor children are able to receive social security benefits. Call the coroner, tell them your MIL told you to lie about being married and make sure your rights/properties are protected. I’m not sure what the family dynamics have been that have led up to this – but, you do need to make sure you and your childrens’ assets are protected. Life insurance and social security benefits and all of those things will matter. If you are in fact married – make sure you are on the death certificate as his wife…even if that means accepting financial burden for his disposition expenses.
Why would a medical examiner keep the leg bones of the deceased person? The state is Florida.
Without knowing more facts, I can only guess. There is a lot of DNA to possibly take out of the long bones of the legs. It might be for future studies. It might be for research. I honestly don’t know.
I’ve been highly interested in becoming a Coroner and was wondering what I need to do to start that career? I am currently a freshman in college studying behavioral neuroscience. What should I change my degree to? I’ve done research on becoming a coroner but would like to know from someone who has already been down the road to help me with making a beneficial decision.
You can stay with behavioral neuroscience. I would assume there is a lot of biology to that – plus, understanding behavior is something beneficial to this career. As a coroner, you only need to get elected. I would say to try to get involved in your local politics – join various campaigns and whatnot – learn how the ins/outs work, meet people in your local political arena and start building those relationships. That being said – your college major seems good to me.
As a side note, you should really consider by-passing being a coroner and go straight to being a forensic pathologist. There is a shortage and as forensic pathologists retire – the shortage is becoming greater. The future really is in forensic pathology.
If some one collapsed in the bath and drowned, CPR is performed but no response, and the person dies. At autopsy, would coroner’s check for carbon monoxide? Would you know if carbon monoxide was the cause of the collapse due to CPR for 2 hours?
CO is a separate and specific test and we would most likely not test for it in this circumstance. However, if the body had cherry-red lividity, an indicator of CO poisoning, we would test for it. If, while at the scene, something made us suspect CO, we would have the fire department come out and do a particle test to record CO levels. CPR would not impact the CO level in the blood if CO was present and the cause.
A post mortem tissue sample of a two month old baby showed a trace of methamphetamine. Could that trace have been from ingestion during pregnancy?
No.
Now, was the child breastfed? Methamphetamine might be on a tox screen in a two-month old who was breastfed
Hi, if a person drowns in a vat of motor oil, what happens to the body? How quickly does it decompose? Faster or slower than drowning in water? Would a body drowned in motor oil float to the surface?
If a person drowns in motor oil – what happens to the body? The person dies from oil being introduced into the respiratory and circulatory systems.
How quickly does it decompose? It would vary on the size of the body, the temperature of the oil, etc. In room temperature – I would think decomposition would be slowed. Probably slower than water, but I don’t know.
Would a body drowned in oil float to the surface? It might after decomposition caused enough gases to build up in the body. And it would probably be affected by the viscosity of the oil….5W40 vs 10W40 and so on and so forth…
Author here, currently writing and I was wondering if labs would be able to pull a positive test for coke from a dead body that had been out in the open for about a week? Would that result also be influenced by how long that person had been using, say fairly regularly for about 6 months?
Coke (assuming you are referencing cocaine) would be detectable in toxicology. Depending on the nature of the body – the levels may have to come from the liver or brain if the body is decomposed. We couldn’t tell 6 months of cocaine – but, if there are high levels of benzoylecgonine in the urine – it is usually a strong indictor of chronic use.
If someone were to be diagnosed as terminal with liver disease, would there be obvious, unmistakable evidence of that during the autopsy once they passed? What in particular would verify or confirm that a person had liver disease during an autopsy?
Absolutely. The diseased liver is generally yellow in color if it is diseased. It may be smaller or bigger – depending on the disease. It may be ‘slippery’ which means it is very fatty. It may have nodules/bumps on it. The liver is very easy to recognize disease in.
Does skin on hands and or feet prune or wrinkle if exposed to water after death?
Yes.
My friends MIL passed away in her sleep after a lengthy illness (COPD). Since she died alone, they automatically took her body to the coroner’s office. I believe they were waiting for her medical records to see if she needed an autopsy or not. My friends MIL didn’t have any money (and neither do her children) for any kind of burial etc. They are under the impression that the coroner’s office will automatically cremate her body and only charge a small fee when they pick up the remains ($50 or so). Is this common practice?
No. Nothing of this seems like common practice. That being said, everywhere is different. I am guessing they will not do an autopsy for someone with a documented history of COPD. The body will then be released to a funeral home or cremation service that the family chooses. This is all separate from the coroner’s office. The coroner can authorize a cremation and often charges a fee to do so (for us it is $50, but this fee varies); however, there is no system where the coroner will directly cremate a decedent.
I had my toenails cliped to be tested for poison at a lab. Well they called and said UPS said they had an outage. And my toenails made it to lab but was never taken off the truck. I had them to return my toenails to me. They are still in the package and taped. They said they were not sure if they would be good due to they where in a high degree heat in UPS truck for a week. That was in june of 2015. I believe this was deliberate. I still have them unopen. I believe 2010 – 2013 my food and water was being tamper with. Can the toenails still be tested today. And how accurate would result be?
I am sitting here asking myself so many questions. What is going on? Is this real life? Why, if you believe you were being poisoned in 2010-2013 did you wait until 2015 to send your toenails to a lab? And if they were returned to you, why would you hold on to them for almost 3 years? This is a question only the lab you are working with can answer.
Does blood from a cut look different than blood from a hemorrhage under a microscope. I am researching a missing person case. Blood was found in the home. When they looked it they said it was from a natural hemorrhage. I was wondering what the difference is.
I am struggling to understand your question completely – the blood from a cut would be a hemorrhage. Also, the only ‘natural hemorrhage’ I can think of is menses (period) blood…. in which case, yes, they could tell that difference. There is no other circumstance of ‘naturally hemorrhaging’ that I can even think of that would produce blood outside the body without concern. I hope this helps.
We have a pile of questions from the last few weeks that we are working on now. If it has been a while since you have submitted a question, and haven’t received a reply, send an email to askacoroner@gmail.com. Thanks for your interest and patience!
