Collecting bodily fluids
•Blood: Take at least 20 ml of clean blood and store in sterile container. Usually taken at start of autopsy from any main vein, but usually the jugular. Blood will be used in tests for: Alcohol, Blood type, Poisons, Glucose.
•Urine Obtained with a ladle or pipette through an incision in the bladder and then stored in a sterile container. Urine will be used in tests for alcohol and metallic poisons.
•Cerebo-Spinal Fluid Collected by lumbar puncture at start of autopsy. Easiest to take it with body sitting up, head slumped over. A needle is inserted between two vertebrae. Can also be taken by a needle directly into brain.
•Stomach Contents The stomach must be exposed, then carefully pulled out and held over another container. Scissors are used to open the stomach wall and the contents are examined. In suspected poisoning cases the whole stomach will be bagged up for further analysis.
•Intestinal Contents If necessary the whole small intestine will be removed for further analysis later.
•Liver Vital in poisoning cases. After the pathologist has done his visual examination, the whole liver is bagged up for analysis by the toxicologist.
•Vitreous Humour The liquid behind the eye is extracted with a syringe. An equal amout of water is injected in, just for cosmetic reasons. This can be used to determine time of death
