Trauma Assessment and Medicolegal Death Investigation Basics
What this domain tests
Questions cover death investigation jurisdiction, postmortem changes, injury documentation, and the technician's limited role before the medical examiner or coroner assumes control.
Core rules and concepts
- The medical examiner or coroner has jurisdiction over sudden, violent, unexplained, or unattended deaths; do not move the body without authorization.
- Postmortem changes include algor mortis, livor mortis, rigor mortis, and decomposition; each is influenced by environment and body habitus.
- Livor can blanch early and fix later; posterior livor in a supine body is expected, but patterned blanching can indicate pressure.
- Injury types include blunt, sharp, gunshot, thermal, and asphyxial; document location, size, shape, and relationship to clothing.
- Preserve bindings, sexual assault kits, toxicology samples, and paper bags over hands per protocol.
Worked example
A decedent has fixed, non-blanching livor on the back and a faint patterned area on the shoulder. You photograph and measure it before moving the body. Reasoning: fixed livor indicates a settled postmortem position; the patterned area may reflect contact with an object, which could support or contradict a scene account.
Traps
Giving an exact time of death from rigor alone; moving the body before ME approval; confusing livor with bruising; missing posterior injuries; failing to bag hands; discarding bindings.