Autopsy reports: What they can reveal, what they can’t
When someone dies under circumstances considered suspicious, including as a result of a possible homicide, suicide or a car crash, an autopsy is conducted to learn more about the person’s death.
This examination, which is done by a forensic pathologist, is conducted at the Franklin County Coroner’s office for deaths that occur in Franklin County. A forensic pathologist is a medical doctor specially trained in conducting autopsies.
The pathologist will complete a report after the autopsy is completed that becomes public once it is finalized. In some cases, particularly in homicides, these reports can provide valuable information about how a person died.
However, the report can only provide information about what a person’s body can relay about how they died. It does not give context, a play-by-play of events or determine whether a person’s death is a criminal act.
What is in a autopsy report?
Reports from the Franklin County Coroner’s office contain three documents: a detailed postmortem, or autopsy, examination report; a toxicology report; and a coroner’s report.
The coroner’s report is a form document that includes basic information about the person who has died, what funeral home is handling arrangements, the next of kin and the cause and manner of death.
The postmortem examination report is a detailed document that outlines every finding from the autopsy. This report breaks down any and all wounds on the body, both internal and external, as well as information on the organs in the body.
A toxicology report shows whether any substances were found in the dead person, including alcohol, THC or narcotics.
What an autopsy report can tell us
Autopsy reports can show how a person died. The report can show how many gunshots or stab wounds injured the person who died, as well as what parts of the body were damaged.
Reports can also show how a bullet travels through the body with its trajectory, for example front to back or from left to right. This can help investigators determine the position of the person when they were fatally hurt.
The toxicology report can also show whether a person has any substances in their body that may have led to impairment.
What an autopsy report can’t show
In general, an autopsy report cannot detail in what order a person’s wounds were inflicted. The report will detail the number and location of wounds. Detectives can then use this information, along with other evidence that has been gathered, to infer how an incident unfolded.
However, there are more than some instances where wound order can be determined based on the amount of bleeding that may or may not have occurred with the injury.
Toxicology testing also cannot determine whether a person actually was intoxicated. Each person processes substances differently based on their height, weight, age, metabolism and prior exposure.
In addition, unless a death is witnessed in a hospital or by a paramedic, the time of death that is listed on the autopsy report is the time the person was found and pronounced dead. Evidence of decomposition or other after-death changes in the body can help provide an estimate of when a person’s fatal injuries were suffered.
Cause of death vs. manner of death
Coroners will make two findings on a report related to how a person died. The cause of death is what exactly led to a person’s death, for example, a gunshot, stab injuries or acute narcotic intoxication.
The manner of death is one of five categories that coroners use to generally classify the death: accident, natural causes, homicide, suicide and undetermined.
A cause of death is more specific than the general determination made in a manner of death ruling. Neither ruling, by itself, is a determination that says a person’s death is a crime under Ohio
law.
Toxicology reports
Part of an autopsy is taking a blood and urine sample for testing. The final report, which takes several weeks to complete, shows the presence of a number of substances, including fentanyl, ethanol, THC, methamphetamine and benzodiazepines. If a drug is detected in a person’s system, there is also a measurement of how much of that substance is in a person’s system, measured in nanograms per milliliter.
While a toxicology report can determine if someone consumed a substance, it cannot always accurately reflect when the drug was taken or whether someone was intoxicated. That determination is dependent upon a person’s metabolism, their tolerance of a drug from potential prior use and a multitude of other factors.
How long do autopsy reports take to complete?
An autopsy report can take anywhere from several weeks to several months to be completed. This is, partly, due to waiting on toxicology tests to be run and those results to be available.
The amount of time a autopsy report takes also is dependent on how many autopsies the coroner’s office is conducting at a given time, how many pathologists are employed and how quickly they are able to complete their report.
A deceased person’s body is not kept at the morgue while the report is pending. After an autopsy is finished, the body is released to the family or a funeral home serving the family for preparation for burial. bbruner@dispatch.com @bethany_bruner