FDLE, & Judiciary Medical Examiners Commission (2010). Drugs identified in deceased persons by florida medical examiners. 2010 Midterm Report, Retrieved June 5, 2011, from http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/Content/getdoc/8a59bd00-c38d-4be1-ac06-715a273b552e/MEC-2010-Interim-Report.aspx…
The first part of embalming is removing all blood and fluids. This process does not take too long in the hands of a professional. He makes tiny incisions of the veins to remove all blood and replaces it with embalming fluid. This procedure is done for disinfecting and protecting a corpse from discoloration. There is a choice of different embalming chemicals that suit different people and produce different effects on skin texture and its color tone. The…
3) The first major stage in the process of embalming and restoration is draining the blood through the veins and replaced by embalming fluid pumped in through the arteries. “The next step is to have at Mr.Jones with a thing called a trocar. This is a long, hollow needle attached to a tube. It is jabbed in the abdomen, poked around in the entrails and chest cavity; the contents are pumped out and replaced with cavity fluid”. (Mitford page 305 ) Next the formative work is begun and affected tissues are removed. After this is done if…
Selavka’s presentation ranged on the many different aspects of Forensic Toxicology. The first part of his discussion centered on the types of drugs toxicologist are interested in. Drugs that were mentioned included benzodiazepines, depressants, opiates, cocaine, amphetamines, marijuana and alcohol. Dr. Selavka pointed out that Alcohol stands out from the other drugs as it is the largest contributing factor to vehicle related accidents as well as consequently deaths. Dr. Selavka also included regular toxicologist studies such as the testing for carbon monoxide, cyanide, inhalants, metals, pesticides and…
While performing the autopsy the signs of smoke inhalation we looked for was soot in the…
Dr. Harold Shipman admitted, as a college student, he took a very keen interest in drugs while at the Leeds University medical school (England, 2015). Dr. Shipman equally shared an intense interest in his mother’s morphine treatment as she battled lung cancer when he was still a teenager (Harold Shipman, 2014). He strongly believed this drug was instrumental in alleviating her pain up until she passed away (Harold Shipman, 2014). Soon after Dr. Shipman completed medical school and was working as a general practitioner, he became addicted to Pethidine. After his troubles with drug addition, he once again worked as a family doctor (Harold Shipman, 2014). Morphine became Dr. Shipman’s murder weapon of choice. Pathologists stated at the murder trial this was the cause of death for the majority of Dr. Shipman’s victims (Harold Shipman, 2014). It was also proven that he had illegally stockpiled morphine by forging prescriptions, over-prescribing, and collecting unused morphine for his deceased patients (Harold Shipman, 2014).…
From a religious standpoint, embalming was practiced mainly by the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans because they believed that embalming and burial were the preparation steps for the soul’s journey to the underworld (Rostad). Jews and most Christians did not practice embalming; they believed it to be destruction of what God created. From this view embalming was not to preserve the body but prepare it for the afterlife. The second reason for embalming is that it disinfects and kills bacteria still living on the corpse to prevent disease and pathogens from finding their ways to new hosts (Rostad). Without this step critical disease, like those in third-world countries, would continue to spread and kill off those who are still…
I believe what trigger Dr. Shipman’s criminal activity was his patients tended to live longer than his mother, so he began to up the dosage of morphine on his patients. Therefore, to keep a toxicological analysis from performing an autopsy on his patients, Dr. Shipman would request that his patients be cremated. “A forensic autopsy usually emphasizes external and internal findings while developing meaningful forensic correlations between sustained injuries and crime scene” (Saferstein, 2015, p. 101). Nevertheless, a forensic pathologist determines the cause of an undetermined or unexpected death. (Saferstein, 2015) The cause of death determination; however, involves not just an autopsy; nonetheless, the history of death, witness statements, relevant medical records, and any scene investigation, all which constitute the surrounding circumstances of death. (Saferstein, 2015) Dr. Shipman made it clear that autopsies were not necessary so; therefore, this concluded the determination of some of his patient’s death. Dr. Shipman forges medical records; therefore, the history of his patient’s death was undetected. If there is no scene, there is no investigation, and this is how Dr. Shipman constituted the surrounding circumstances of cremation to the majority of his patients. The protection of the body and the overall crime scene is critical. However, there was no crime scene due to cremation of Dr. Shipman’s…
One of the main points that the author of Stiff, Mary Roach, attempted to portray is the importance that human cadavers are to be treated with the upmost respect. In the first quote that is presented everything that Roach discusses about respect seems to be contradicted. I selected this quote because it made me imagine the cadaver as a simple laundry sack that is being used as a target to shoot at. Of course this act is not simply just for target practice, the information retrieved from this wound in the cadaver is used for important research. This is but one way that a human corpse is utilized, as Roach describe other forms of using a corpse further in the book.…
By eliminating the dangerous chemicals involved in embalming, they help keep them from seeping into the soil. And by choosing biodegradable coffins, they help keep coffin waste from just sitting in the ground forever.…
There are a numerous number of drugs in the United States. There is a drug like marijuana that you could smoke, get high from, and still pass a urinary test with it in your system. This drug can be called many things: legal spice, spice, legal, potpourri, and anything else someone might come up with. The two most common drugs used in the US have been legal spice and marijuana. The scientific term for legal spice is Synthetic Cannabis it is an herbal and chemical item that when smoked, mimics the effects of marijuana. It is best known as legal spice or K2. (http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=106&sid=59ce6c0d-f7a1-4779-a1b8-6cab4e630f4d%40sessionmgr104&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=mnh&AN=21702397). There has been an increase in drug abuse by the use of legal spice which is mixed with different chemicals such as JWH-018. JWH-018 was first developed in 1995 for research, by organic chemist John W. Huffman at Clemson University in South Carolina. (http://syntheticmarijuana.wordpress.com/). He created this chemical compound and tried to find cannabinoid receptors in the brain. The parts that THC in marijuana bond with to produce feelings of euphoria and research shows he was successful in these findings. (http://syntheticmarijuana.wordpress.com/). These chemicals do not show up in the system but result in having a long term effect on the body. According to Huffman, “it doesn’t hit the brain in the same way as marijuana, and that’s why it’s dangerous.” (http://hightimes.com/news/mmiller/7144). Legal spice is known all around the US and in some places it is legal. In other cities it is not, because of the effects it causes on the body. Many people were smoking legal spice when it was “legal” because of the fact that it didn’t show up in a drug test. It was…
The allusion at the beginning of the second paragraph poses the question of whether embalming is something that should be assumed as the process by which someone’s corpse in handled. Almost every other way a corpse in tampered with requires consent of some kind, yet this requires none.…
Smoke from cigarettes can linger in the air for hours, even after a smoker extinguishes the cigarette.…
Users claim to have a subtler high with vaped hemp than with its smoked counterparts. The combination of THC and other compounds differs between smoke and vapor.…
We loaded a fat bowl of this brown, low quality marijuana (the kind I would most likely sell to a group of 8th graders) and I watched my friends pass the pipe down the line and wheeze away due to their pre-pubescent lungs underestimating the harshness of the smoke. Alas, it was I, the rookie’s turn to scrape my mother’s threatening lectures from the back of my mind. I inhaled through my lungs just as I was told. Terrified, I blew it out immediately and fell into a frenzy of what sounded like malaria induced coughs and dry heaves until I actually regurgitated my cherry Mountain Dew.…