Mortuary Technician Essay

FORENSIC PATHOLOGY OFFICER TRAINING COURSE

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH – SOUTHERN DISTRICT

Introduction

The purpose of the course is to teach the basics of forensic medicine to mortuary technicians with no previous knowledge of the subject. The main emphasis will be on mortuary technique, but related aspects of forensic science will be taught. The course addresses the aspects of forensic medicine that are most frequently encountered in practice, including those that may become the subject of testimony in court.

THE AUTOPSY

The word autopsy means, “to look at oneself”. Many other terms are used such as necropsy (to look at the dead) and postmortem (after-death). They all mean the same thing.

Autopsies have been performed for a long
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Acts Regulating the Performance of Post-Mortem Examinations

|ACT |AIMS OF ACT |
|Health Act 63 of 1977 |Postmortem in cases of contagious and infectious diseases |
| |Consent of family not needed |
| |Body must be exhumed if buried |
| |Deals with transplantation of organs |
| |Deals with removal of tissue from deceased |
|Inquest Act 58 of 1959 |Procedures to be followed in unnatural deaths
E.g. If you have a lump under your skin, the doctor can take a small piece of tissue from the lump and send it to the histopathologist who will examine it under the microscope and make a diagnosis and recommend treatment. Chemical Pathology – diseases produce changes in the fluids of the body e.g urine, blood, spinal fluid. These body fluids can be examined and diagnoses of disease can be made from the results. E.g. When you are sent for a blood test, the chemistry of your blood is examined by a Chemical Pathologist who may then make a diagnosis. Microbiology – The study of how bacteria and viruses cause disease by examination of body tissues and fluids and isolation of organisms. E.g. pus swabs will be sent to a microbiologist to identify the bacteria causing the disease. The microbiologist will then recommend the appropriate treatment. Forensic pathology – Forensic pathology is a branch of histopathology where a trained pathologist will examine the body and it’s tissues and offer opinions on how trauma has caused disease or disturbance in the body. Forensic pathologists have knowledge of all branches of pathology as applied to death, dying and