Forensic pathology
Forensic pathology is the medical investigation of death, using examination of the body and related evidence to determine cause and manner of death.
Autopsy: A systematic examination of a body after death to establish disease, injury, or cause of death. The internal and external examination supplies the principal anatomical evidence.
Thanatology: The scientific study of death and the processes that occur before and after it. It provides the broader biological framework for interpreting findings after death.
Medical examiner: A physician, often trained in pathology, who investigates deaths within a public jurisdiction. Medical examiners oversee death investigations and may perform or commission autopsies.
Clinical pathology: The laboratory diagnosis of disease using samples from living patients and, in some settings, postmortem specimens. Clinical pathology primarily supports patient care, whereas forensic pathology addresses death and legal questions.
Cause of death: The disease, injury, or physiological event that directly or indirectly produces death. The pathologist identifies the fatal process rather than merely describing the body's condition.
Livor mortis: The purplish discoloration caused by blood settling in dependent parts of a body after circulation stops. Its distribution and fixation can inform body position and postmortem timing.
Coroner: A public official responsible for investigating certain deaths; qualifications and duties vary by jurisdiction. The coroner system differs from physician-led medical examiner systems in authority and training.
Forensic psychiatry: The application of psychiatric expertise to legal questions involving mental state, capacity, or risk. It examines mental functioning and legal responsibility rather than the physical causes of death.
Manner of death: A classification of death circumstances, commonly natural, accident, suicide, homicide, or undetermined. This classification separates the medical cause from the circumstances in which death occurred.
Rigor mortis: The temporary stiffening of muscles after death caused by biochemical changes in muscle tissue. Its development and resolution are among the observable postmortem changes.