Kate Ota
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • FAQ
  • Contact
  • Tidewater Writers

Writing, Publishing, and Bookish Blog

An Example Fictional Autopsy

3/24/2020

1 Comment

 
To expand on my last post, I wrote a fictional autopsy for a famously murdered character in the public domain, Mercutio of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. I took a lot of creative liberties here because we don't get a ton of Mercutio description. I learned that writing a character's autopsy is a great way to get to know them, maybe try it as a character building exercise! The annotations on the side are meant to be helpful and clarify anything I felt wasn't common knowledge.
​The following autopsy is completely fictional and any commonalities with real people is pure coincidence. 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
There you have it, folks! Was this example helpful? Want more examples? Want to make fun of my goofy body diagram? Let's discuss in the comments!
1 Comment

So You Need to Write an Autopsy

3/14/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Photo is of my parents' Japanese Maple tree. It's red and kind of like blood vessels if you squint. Photo by Kate Ota 2019
From murder mysteries to space operas, an autopsy can appear in all sorts of genres. Either a scene or a paper copy of the report can help clarify the cause of death for the characters invested in the outcome. Most people have never read or performed an autopsy and because of their legal and highly personal information, it’s hard to find reliable examples online. I’ve read dozens of autopsy reports as part of my day job. Here’s what you need to know about what an autopsy report contains.
 

Types of Examiners
Between different districts, the formatting of the autopsy report will vary, so don’t get stuck there. It’s the content that matters. Who performs an autopsy will also be different, there are Medical Examiners (ME) and there are coroners. You’ll need to research where your story is set (if it’s the real world) to learn who runs things. These offices may also have other employees who help the Chief ME or Lead Coroner, these employees may have titles such as Investigator.

Autopsies may also be performed by pathologists at the hospital, but this is generally outside of the legal realm. This occurs when either the hospital wants to see what they did wrong, prove they didn’t do something wrong when someone dies in surgery, or if the family pays for an autopsy after the ME/coroner declines. (Side note: private autopsies requested by the family can be crazy expensive!)
 

Types of Exams
In my experience, an ME/coroner also has two different types of post-mortem examinations. A view is done usually when cause of death is fairly clear, like a hanging or car accident trauma. An autopsy is more in-depth in detail and includes internal and external exam information. Usually this is for cases that may become court cases, like a potential homicide.
 

Content
An autopsy report will always include: who performed/was present for the exam, the decedent’s name, age/DOB, physical description, overview, cause of death. This is all written in the clearest phrasing possible, and with scientific terms only (example: clavicle instead of collar bone.)

The physical description includes hair and eye color, beard, mustache, circumcised (these last three are yes, no, or N/A), scars (surgical and non-surgical), tattoos, condition of skin/teeth/nails, weight, and if the person appears their age.

The overview will include things like signs of trauma, signs of medical intervention, and any medical information the autopsy uncovered, even if it’s not the cause of death. These incidental findings can include mild heart disease, nodules or cysts on organs, lung disease like asthma, etc.

Cause of death is very specific and technical, since this is a legal document. Be sure to research medical terminology to ensure the report states what your plot requires. If your autopsy report needs to say, essentially, “we don’t know why this person randomly died,” call it acute coronary insufficiency. This means the heart gave up all of a sudden.

An autopsy (rather than a view) will also include detailed descriptions of each major organ (including their weights) and descriptions of any microscopic slides made for the investigation. Slides are only taken from areas relevant to the suspected cause of death. Often this is done to determine if a medical condition contributed to death, such as cardiomyopathy or a pulmonary embolism.

Finally, in either homicides, suicides, or anything involving a motor vehicle, the odds are high the investigator will perform a toxicology screen. Generally, this will screen for alcohol, major illegal drugs, cannabinoids (legal or illegal), and forms of these drugs left after the body breaks them down. Other drugs or substances may be screened for if signs of their presence were at the scene of death, like an empty bottle of antidepressants or rat poison. Tox reports screen blood, urine, vitreous fluid (from the eye), and sometimes other fluids, like bile. They’re also stored for later screening if necessary.
 

Common Medical Terms
  • Anterior: front of the body (as a person would appear while standing and facing you) which includes the palms and tops of feet (example: stab wounds to the anterior torso)
  • Posterior: back of the body, which includes the back of the hands and underside of feet (example: bruising on posterior ribs)
  • Medial: toward the midline of the body (example: a scar medial to the right shoulder)
  • Lateral: away from the midline of the body (example: a mole lateral to the left patella)
  • Superior: above (example: a freckle superior to the right eyebrow)
  • Inferior: below (example: a gun shot wound entrance inferior to the left pectorals)
  • Renal: refers to kidneys
  • Gastric: refers to stomach
  • Ocular: refers to the eyes/eye sockets
  • Cardiac/coronary: refers to heart
  • Pulmonary: refers to lungs
  • Acute: a problem that is short term or new (example: acute coronary insufficiency)
  • Chronic: a problem that has been or will be long term (example: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD)
 

Examples of Cause of Death Phrasing
  • Gun shot wound(s) to [name of body part]
  • Acute coronary insufficiency (basically their heart stopped working)
  • Myocardial infarction (heart attack, which has more specific symptoms than acute coronary insufficiency)
  • Combined [names of drugs] overdose (this would come with a separate toxicology report)
  • Acute [name of drug] toxicity (this would come with a separate toxicology report)
  • Hanging (the report would list the category of death being suicide, accident, homicide, etc.)
  • Drowning (this may have an added note, such as "myocardial infarction contributing," if the person had a heart attack to cause the drowning)
  • Blunt force trauma to the [name of body part] (used to describe injuries from car/motorcycle/bicycle/falling accidents)
  • Sharp force trauma to [name of body part] (used to describe injuries of stabbing/slicing incidents)
 

I hope you found this autopsy overview helpful for your writing. Have any questions? Need help rephrasing your project’s cause of death to sound more scientific? Let’s discuss in the comments!
0 Comments

    Archives

    March 2025
    February 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019

    Categories

    All
    Agent's Guide
    Announcement
    Book Review
    Character Development
    Conferences
    Crafting
    Critique
    Does It Live Up To The Hype
    Easier Editing
    Editing
    Goals
    Indie Books
    Inspiration
    Is It Worth It
    NaNoWriMo
    Novella
    Personal Essay
    Pitch Wars
    PitchWars
    Published Work
    Query Tips
    Reading
    Research
    RevPit
    Screenwriting
    Show Don't Tell
    Trope Discussion
    Updates
    Voice
    World Building
    Writing Groups
    Writing Tips
    Year In Review

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • FAQ
  • Contact
  • Tidewater Writers