Settling of the blood in the lower, or dependent, portion of the body postmortem
Livor mortis
(
Latin
:
l?vor
? "bluish color, bruise",
mortis
? "of death"),
postmortem lividity
(Latin:
postmortem
? "after death",
lividity
? "black and blue"),
hypostasis
(
Greek
: ?π?,
hypo
, meaning "under, beneath"; στ?σι?,
stasis
, meaning "a standing"
[1]
[2]
) or
suggillation
, is the second
stage of death
and one of the
signs of death
. It is a settling of the
blood
in the lower, or dependent, portion of the body postmortem, causing a purplish red discoloration of the skin. When the heart stops functioning and is no longer agitating the blood, heavy red blood cells sink through the
serum
by action of gravity. The blood travels faster in warmer conditions and slower in colder conditions.
Livor mortis starts within 20?30 minutes, but is usually not observable by the
human eye
until two hours after death. The size of the patches increases in the next three to six hours. Fixation will begin to occur during this timeframe, causing the patches to be unaltered due to movement. Maximum lividity will occur between eight and twelve hours after
death
. Areas of blood pooling in contact with the ground will blanch, or remain white.
[3]
The blood pools into the
interstitial tissues
of the body. The intensity of the color depends upon the amount of reduced
haemoglobin
in the blood. The discoloration does not occur in the areas of the body that are in contact with the ground or another object, in which
capillaries
are compressed.
[4]
Applicability
[
edit
]
Coroners
can use the presence or absence of livor mortis as a means of determining an approximate time of death. It can also be used by
forensic
investigators to determine whether or not a body has been moved. For instance, if the body is found lying
prone
, but the pooling is present on the deceased's back, investigators can conclude that the body was originally positioned
supine
.
[4]
The colour of the pooling can help in determining cause of death. Carbon monoxide poisoning causes a red colouration.
[3]
Among coroners and other investigators, such as
homicide and forensic detectives
, livor mortis is not considered an exact way to measure time of death, but rather as a method of
approximating
it. Livor mortis, along with
algor mortis
,
rigor mortis
, and practices such as
forensic entomology
are frequently combined by investigators to more accurately pinpoint the estimated time of death.
[5]
References
[
edit
]
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Calixto Machado, "Brain death: a reappraisal", Springer, 2007,
ISBN
0-387-38975-X
, p. 74
- Robert G. Mayer, "Embalming: history, theory, and practice", McGraw-Hill Professional, 2005,
ISBN
0-07-143950-1
, pp. 106?109
- Anthony J. Bertino "Forensic Science: Fundamentals and Investigations" South-Western Cengage Learning, 2008,
ISBN
978-0-538-44586-3
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