SUBMODULE 3.1. NOTION OF DEATH AND POSTMORTEM CHANGES
Death is cessation of activity in a biological structure that was aimed at its preservation and reproduction.
The concept of death refers both to the organism as a whole, and to its parts (necrosis of cells, brain death, etc.).
Medical and biological classification of death is made according to its causes and mechanisms; while the basis of socio-legal classification of death is the circumstances of death.
Forensic classification of death:
► violent death (homicide, suicide, accident) resulting from:
• mechanical injury;
• mechanical asphyxia;
• poisoning;
• exposure to physical factors: extreme temperature, electricity, atmospheric pressure changes and radiation energy;
► non-violent death resulting from:
• cardiovascular diseases;
• respiratory diseases;
• CNS diseases;
• GIT diseases;
• malignant neoplasm;
• infectious diseases;
• pregnancy and delivery;
• diseases of other organs and systems of the body.
Forensic pathology classifies death into non-violent (resulting from disease) and violent, caused by external effects (mechanical injury, hypoxia, starvation, etc.).
In case of non-violent death, postmortem is performed by pathologists. However, death from a disease sometimes occurs suddenly, in unusual conditions (at home, in office, in sleep, etc.), unexpectedly for others, in apparently healthy individual. The unexpected nature of death always necessitates ruling out external violence: mechanical injury, poisoning, etc. At a forensic examination this is an indication of a sudden death case.
By type, violent death is classified into death following a homicide, a suicide or an accident. Establishment of death type is based on social and legal rather than medical criteria, thus it is the prerogative of the investigation bodies or the court, and is beyond the competence of a forensic pathologist. The forensic pathologist is to say about the type of violent death only filling in the death certificate, in accordance with the data recorded in official legal documents. The medical data about a human body (clinical and morphological) constitute the foundation for judgement on the death causes and mechanism, thus it is formulated regardless of the death circumstances.