Day 6,7 and 8

Days 6,7&8
On May 11th (Day 6) we spent most of the day in the bone room working on our assigned cases. We are split into two groups and each are working on topics of our choice. My group chose pathologies, blunt force traumas, burn victims and gun shot wounds. We found some really interesting cases such as a woman that had been hit by a train and her skull was split down the center, the autopsy photos show her head split in two but when we saw the skull photos her skull was broken in a few places. She has bent down to pick up her glasses and was hit by a train. A very interesting case!
After the bone case we had the opportunity to see a gunshot victim who was part of a gang retaliation. He had been shot in a vehicle and then the vehicle was set on fire so the victim was burned beyond recognition. The only thing visible and not charred on the individual were his teeth. Burn cases are always interesting to see as it is hard to invision that the remains once were a living person because of the condition of the bodies.
George Hime gave a lecture in toxicology today, which was very interesting! He showed us slides of items they have found in drug mules bodies (drug smugglers) such as hashish, marijuana, cocaine or even combination packs of the three drugs. One of the photos we saw were of an entire string of hashish about 90 latex balloons wrapped in saran wrap and were wrapped around the deceased drug mules intestines. Some of the balloons had burst and killed him by overdose.

May 12th (day 7) The first part of our day was spent in the autopsy room where we saw an autopsy of a victim in his late twenties who had died from a drug overdose a suicide case. He was partially decomposed when he came in so he did not smell pleasant. It is weird when you see someone so young on the autopsy table. We had also seen a car accident victim who had been struck on mothers day with her daughter in the vehicle and the mother was ejected from the vehicle and lost her life. Also in the autopsy area we saw a man that has been in the freezer since March that has fungus growing on him.
After the autopsies we went to the records room to find cases for our presentation, we found a case of a woman who had been dismembered. The bottom half of her body was found in a box and the top half was found in another box both in different locations, her head was never found. Looking at her bones you can see the cut marks where she was dismembered, it is cool to see the cut marks and be able to compare them to pictures we have only seen in books before we came here to Miami. We also found the remains of a little 5 year old boy who was found deceased in a closet, his remains are still unknown. He has some trauma to the back of his head and to his ulna (arm bone). From looking at the trauma we suspect that he may have been hit in the back of the head with something and when he went to fall forward to brace himself he fractured his ulna. This was a very sad case ☹.

May 13th (Day 8) today we started out in the bone room and on our way there we saw a severe decomposing case. This man was black and bloated and had maggots all over him, he did not smell very good! But was very cool to see.
Later on in the autopsy room we saw two suicides that came in one was mid twenties and had shot himself in the head, his entrance wound had burning around it from the casing of the gun. The second victims gunshot wound was interesting because his entrance wound looked like his exit wound and his exit wound looked like his entrance wound. The entrance wound is supposed to be smaller and cleaner than the exit wound which is usually bigger and messier because the bullet travels through and pushes out with force causing a bigger hole and more of a mess.
We also got to sit in on a homicide meeting today where two cases were presented but they are confidential so I cannot speak about them but it was really fascinating to sit in on a meeting and see how the police force works with the medical examiners office to solve cases!

Still enjoying everyday!!!