Death is inevitable in all living things - a
distressing experience for those left to mourn after the departed. There are
four stages a body goes through after death. These are: pallor mortis, algor
mortis, rigor mortis and livor mortis. Then follows putrefaction,
decomposition, skeletonization, and finally fossilization.
A person is
confirmed dead when you listen to the person's heart for a minute and feel for
a pulse for a minute but get none. A dead person does not breathe. If you hold
a small mirror under the person's nose and the glass does not fog up, they are
not breathing. You could also use any glass-based surface like a powered-off
cell phone screen. If you have a flashlight or a flashlight app on your phone,
direct the beam straight into the person's eye. If the pupil constricts, they
must be alive. They may be dead if there is no constriction. Check for a loss
of bladder and bowel control. When a person dies, their bladder and bowels
relax. If you suddenly notice a person wetting or soiling themselves, they may
be dead. If the person is in a hospital, machines that monitor heartbeat,
brainwaves and respiration will easily detect death.
Pallor mortis -
"paleness of death" - is the first stage of death. It occurs 15 to 25
minutes after death. In those with light/white skin, a paleness can be
observed, which results from the absence/shut down of capillary circulation
throughout the body. Autolysis/self-digestion begins several minutes after
death. Cells become deprived of oxygen soon after the heart stops beating. The
cells become more acidic as the toxic by-products of chemical reactions start
to accumulate within. Primary flaccidity occurs within an hour of death, with
all of the muscles in the body relaxing. This explains the passing of urine and
feces by a dead person.
Algor mortis -
the "coldness of death" - is the second stage of death. The corpse's
temperature drops or rises till it has acclimatized to its surroundings. This
happens because the mechanisms in the body that restore optimal temperature (36°C - 37°C) stop working. The body cannot
control its temperature without the brain and heart functioning. If the
ambient/surrounding temperature is below 37°C, the corpse's temperature drops
by 1°C in the first two hours following death, then drops by 1°C every
hour. If
a body is left untreated at room temperature, it will rapidly decompose.
Rigor mortis -
"the stiffness of death" - sets in four to six hours after death.
Rigor mortis begins in the eyelids, jaw and neck muscles, then extends to the
trunk and limbs. Rigor mortis tends to peak at 12 hours and dies out after 48
hours.
Livor mortis -
the "bluish color of death" - is the fourth stage of death. It is
also known as hypostasis. Although livor mortis sets in 20 - 30 minutes after
death, it is not observable by the human eye that early. It is observable two
to four hours after death. In this stage, blood settles in the lower or
dependent position of the body after death, which causes a purple-red
discoloration of the skin. Lividity develops in the direction of gravity. As
such, if a corpse was lying horizontally on its back, then lividity develops on
the backside. Lividity takes 6 to 12 hours from the time of death to become
fixed.
Decomposition
of a corpse is slowed when kept in a mortuary. At the mortuary, they are either
kept at positive or negative temperature. When kept a negative temperature
(between -10°C and -50°C),
the body is completely frozen which significantly reduces (but does not
prevent) decomposition. When kept at positive temperatures (between 2°C and 4°C), which is usually the case when bodies
are to be kept for several weeks, decomposition is slowed not very much but
sufficiently.
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