This document defines and classifies postmortem artifacts, which are changes to a body after death that could mislead autopsy findings. Artifacts are classified by causative agent and time of introduction. Examples include marks from resuscitation attempts, changes due to handling of bodies, and animal/insect activity. Proper identification of artifacts is important in forensic medicine to avoid misinterpreting findings and reaching incorrect conclusions about cause or manner of death, which could result in miscarriages of justice. Close examination and consideration of artifacts is necessary to accurately determine whether wounds or other findings occurred before or after death.

1. by Dr m balaji singh
Professor of Forensic Medicine
ACS Medical College and Hospital, Chennai
Courtesy:Dr Sujeet Kumar Samadder (slide share)

2. “ARTEFACT” POINTS
COVERED
-Definition
-Classification
- Description
- Medico-legal Importance

3. Origin – Latin.
‘arte’ = skill ; ‘fact’ = something made.
Artefacts - not real but something artificial.
Artefact

4. definition
 It is a change or feature which
was not (physiologically or pathologically) present
in the body before death, but caused or
introduced into the body after death,
leading to confusion about its nature
and cause,
 resulting in misinterpretation of medico
legally significant findings

5. Postmortem artifacts -
classified according to
causative agent:
i. Due to postmortem changes
ii. Third party artifacts
iii. Environmental artifacts
iv. Other artifacts

6. Classification according time of
introduction of artifact
Three types
1. During resuscitative or therapeutic measures
2. Between death and autopsy.
3. During post-mortem examination

8. Due to resuscitative or therapeutic
measures
History Of Patient and case sheet findings are
utmost importance in Forensic Medicine.
- Marks of injection & defibrillator on chest
- CPR – fracture of ribs & sternum
- haemothorax & haemopneumothorax
-Fat embolism from fractured ribs or sternum
- Laceration of spleen, liver and diaphragm
- Positive pressure ventilation – emphysema, sub-pleural air
blebs, tension pneumothorax.
Cont…

9. DEFIBRILATOR MARKS SIMULATING
ANTEMORTEM ABRASION OVER CHEST

10. Doctor induced……
 Endo-tracheal intubation –
inexperienced hands – injury to larynx
and adjacent tissue – suspicion of foul
play.
 Carotid Angiography – neck muscle
bruise – suspicion of throttling.
 Antemortem surgeon’s intervention on
wounds may mislead autopsy findings-
Kennedy phenomenon

11. Between death and autopsy
 Agonal artefact – ‘agonal’ the struggle that
precedes death.
a. Common agonal artefact is REGURGITATION &
ASPIRATION
 neurogenic shock / cardiac arrest before death
may prevent any significant bleeding
- accidental deaths may have viscera without any pallor.

12. Aspiration – a ante mortem phenomenon

13. Embalming Artefacts: trochar
insertion from neck and abdomen

14. Embalming Artefacts:
 Embalming : chemical treatment of dead body to
protect from decay.
• Trochar insertion for arterial access from
• Existing wound – may change size shape
direction , can create false tracks
 • Freshly created wound – may simulate stab or
gunshot wound.-trochar insertion from neck and
abdomen

15. Embalming……..
 Embalming fluid pressure may extravasate blood
from veins & arteries, may mistaken as bruise;
Or small bruise shown as large bruise
 Embalming fluid interferes in toxicological
analysis

16. Exhumation

17. Handling of cadaver

18. Undertaker’s fracture

19. Artefacts due to handling of cadavers
 From transportation
Abrasion, laceration, blood spots on clothes and body,
which was absent in original.
 From careless handling
Bruise in occipital area due to head bumping on hard
surface, differentiated by wiping off the bruise.

Fracture ribs and vertebras.
Weak, osteoporotic bones may get fractured during
breaking of Rigor Mortis.

Brush abrasions on back by dragging

20. Abrasion
Pale yellow , no parchmentsDark brown, parchment like

21. Laceration- blood clots never
seen in post mortem wounds

22. Post mortem abrasion

23. clot clot

24. Artefacts due to PM changes
 To move the body, breaking is done,
resulting in asymmetrical Rigor Mortis
• May cause misinterpretation of Time
Since Death.
 Heat/Cold stiffening may mimic Rigor
Mortis.

25. PM changes- Artefacts

26. Gas stiffening may simulate
Rigor Mortis
with the following features one can easily differentiate it
from Rigor Mortis:
 Putrefactive changes - inflation of tissue spaces by
gases, which is not seen in heat or cold stiffening.
 No particular order of appearance or disappearance
as in Rigor Mortis
 Joints are not tight, so can be moved easily.
 No muscle shortening as in heat stiffening.
 Stiffening disappears by incisions over the areas.

27. Rigor Mortis

28. Putrefaction artifacts, animal
activity

29. Gas Stiffening , pealing of
epidermis- putrefaction

30. Artefacts due to hypostasis
• Localised hypostasis may be mistaken as bruise
• Hypostasis in dependent part of –
• Heart - Resemble Myocardial Infarction.
• Lung - Pneumonic or broncho-pneumonic consolidation.
• Intestine – suggest corrosion or strangulation.
• Stomach – looks like poisoning.
• Hypostasis in nails sometime confuses with cyanosis.

31. Hypostasis like bruise
Contusion on
the back of the
body

32. Hypostasis causing colour
changes
 • Refrigeration – pink.
• Carbon Monoxide poisoning– cherry red.
• Hydrogen Cyanide poisoning – bright red.
• Potassium Chromate / Bichromate –
chocolate brown.
• Phosphorus poisoning – dark brown.

33. Marbling artifacts

34. Hypostasis of lung- looks like
contusion

35. hypostasis in refrigerated body: pink color-
may cause confusion with that of CO
poisoning.

36. Decomposition artefacts

38. Decomposition artifacts

39. Mummification artifacts

40. Saponification artifacts ,
submerged body

41. Animal induced artifacts – no
bleeding or clots

42. ante mortem blisters
Decomposition artefacts
Postmortem blebs and
marbling

43. Artefacts due to post mortem
corrosion
Gasoline exposure to skin in
accidents causes soiling
After drying – looks like
abrasion or thermal burn

44. Embalming – firearm injury
 Trochar insertion during embalming –
track distortion,
 false track,
 detection of direction of fire may become
difficult

45. Animal – induced
 Bodies found in sandy locations, will be
invaded by a variety of insects such as ants
and beetles.
 They will produce extensive superficial tissue
damage which resemble abrasions.
 These injuries might be thought to have been
produced by dragging of dead over rough ground
 The lack of linear patterns should be sufficient to
exclude dragging injuries

46. Animal induced……
 In hidden places, rats, mice, may feed on bodies .
 Ravenous( hungry) Animals – like fox, jackal, dogs,
 Buzzards ( turkey vulture), crows and birds – in open
places - execute considerable damage,
rendering a body almost to a skeleton in a few days,
depending on the time of the year and their
feeding requirements

47. Artefacts due to animals or
insect bites
– Rats & rodents – nibbled pale and white wounds
– Dogs & jackals – deeper teeth impression like
Superficial Stab Injury
– Cat bite – small & rounded
– by fish, crab etc- In drowned bodies – lips cheek eye
lids,genitalia, fingers, toes, muscles of limbs – affected
Homicidal ante mortem wounds may be altered by animal activity.

48. Ants, cockroaches bites in moist area (eyes, lips,
axila, etc), brown parchmentised area
looks like ante mortem abrasion
--------------------------------------------------------------
– Maggots activity – in ante mortem injuries
changes stab or gun-shot wounds

49. Post mortem ant bites

50. Ant Bite marks

51. Rodent activity - Gnawing
Effect

52. Animal bite resembling stab wounds

53. In drowning cases – aquatic
animals
 body - in water – numerous invaders - cause
extensive damage to the soft tissues.
 Crabs, shrimps and other crustaceans, some fish
and sea feeding birds are the common culprits but
in
tropical water there are many others including
turtles and sharks
 All possibilities - kept in mind ,close examination
of the edge of the injuries may reveal
characteristic teeth, beak or claw marks

55. Rodent activity

56. postmortem animal activity ( due to
large lizard of Srilanka) No blood clots

57. Animal activity on cadaver

58. Animal activity and fungus
formation on cadaver

59. Postmortem vulture eating,
appearing like gun shot

60. Gun shot like wound, made by
maggots/ putrefaction

61. Animal bite –inner part of thigh

62. Toxicological artefacts :
Erroneous results of tests due to
 Faulty collection technique, site, sample
 faulty preservation / preservative, time
delay in sending and analysis of samples
and viscera and
 Introduction of contaminants to samples.
 Decomposed and embalmed bodies can
have ethanol & methanol respectively.

63. Artefacts due to post mortem
bleeding
 Blood may ooze from torn or cut vessels , after
death
 Post mortem clot is jelly like , can be wiped off
easily,
but ante mortem clot is firmly adherent to the
tissues , cannot be wiped off easily.

64. Kennedy phenomenon and
Rayalaseema phenomenon
Or inserting a bullet in depths of existing
antemortem stab wound over a dead body

65. Kennedy phenomenon-
surgeon induced artefacts
 Surgical – cleaning debridement of gun-
shot wounds etc, removes gun powder,
and changes the all over character, as in
J F Kennedy murder case

66. Artefacts induced by criminals
 Dismemberment of body parts, mutilation of
the body, - after death.
 Alteration of the ante mortem injuries , to
cause confusion to autopsy surgeon.
 Rayalasema phenomenon
Bullet in stab wound

67. In burns cases

68. Heat ruptures resemble lacerations

69. Heat Stiffening

70. Heat rupture, pugilistic attitude

71. X-ray related Artefacts
 In a dead body- x-ray for gun-shot bullet,
 false missile shadow can be found due to,
bullet in shirt pocket,
 bullet not fired, but bullet introduced
between shirt folds after death etc.

72. Artefacts during Post Mortem
Examination
1. Injury to visceral organs – mistaken as ante mortem
injury.
2. Fracture of skull bones, may continue with a ante
mortem fracture, misinterpretation of whole fracture.
3. Hyoid and thyroid fracture during forceful
extraction of neck organs.
4. oozing of blood in to the neck during autopsy-
ante / post mortem ?- go with blood less neck dissection

73. Autopsy surgeon induced….
 while removing the neck organs care
must be exercised so as not to fracture
the segments of the thyroid cartilage or
the hyoid bone.
 In elderly /debilitated persons - unusual
fragility of the bones may cause post
mortem fractures- especially the ribs.

74. Medico Legal Importance of
artefacts
Wrong conclusion as to
• Cause of death
• Mode of death
• Nature of death
• Ante mortem or Postmortem wound
 Unjustified suspicion of foul play
 misguided direction to investigating officer
 miscarriage of justice

75. Take home message
 Interpretation of findings over dead body
depends upon the ability, dedication ,
knowledge and wisdom of the autopsy
surgeon.
 Artefacts may lead to
IMPRISONMENT OF INNOCENT
AND FREEDOM OF THE GUILTY.

76. Get freedom from confusion

77. Thanking
you