Jumoke Olasunkanmi
On Thursday, the body of Mohbad, a former signee of Malian Records, was exhumed after about 9 days after he was buried as part of a process to ascertain the cause of his mysterious death.
His former label boss, Afeez Fashola, popularly known as Naira Marley, and his associate, Samson Balogun, also known as Samlarry Elegushi, have been accused of involvement in his death. Following public outcry for justice, the police started an investigation which involves an autopsy.
So, what are the procedures for an autopsy?
Like popular activist, Inibehe Effiong noted in a post on X (formerly Twitter), the process is not for the faint hearted to view.
He noted: “It is not a joke. If you are not in the medical field or law enforcement, you need a certain degree of boldness to be able to witness autopsy.
“I witnessed autopsy of a student who was murdered by a police officer in Uyo. It was horrifying. The way the body is segmented during autopsy by pathologists (to put it lightly) will give a faint hearted person PTSD. You may be reluctant to agree for autopsy to be performed on the corpse of your loved ones if you ever witness it.
“Autopsy is however necessary to determine the cause of death. #Justice4Mohbad”
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, autopsy, also called necropsy, postmortem, or postmortem examination, is dissection and examination of a dead body and its organs and structures. An autopsy may be performed to determine the cause of death, to observe the effects of a disease, and to establish the evolution and mechanisms of disease processes.
The word autopsy is derived from the Greek autopsia, meaning “the act of seeing for oneself.”
Procedure
The first step is a careful examination of the outer body for any abnormality or trauma and a careful description of the interior of the body and its organs. This is usually followed by further studies, including microscopic examination of cells and tissues.
On the torso, a Y-shaped incision is made from either the armpit or the outer shoulder and is carried beneath the breast to the bottom of the sternum, or breastbone, in the midline. From this point of juncture at the bottom of the sternum the incision is continued down to the lower abdomen where the groins meet in the genital area.
In one method, each organ is removed separately for incision and study, while in others, the chest organs are all removed in a single group and all of the abdominal organs in another for examination. The great vessels to the neck, head, and arms are ligated—tied off—and the organs removed as a unit for dissection.
The neck organs are explored in situ only or removed from below. Dissection (cutting) then proceeds usually from the back, except where findings dictate a variation in the procedure. Usually, groups of organs are removed together so that disturbances in their functional relationships may be determined. After study of the brain in position, it is freed from its attachments and removed in toto. The spinal cord also can be removed.
The dissector proceeds to examine the external and cut surface of each organ, its vascular structures, including arteries, lymphatics, fascial or fibrous tissue, and nerves. Specimens are taken for culture, chemical analysis, and other studies. Immediately upon completion of the procedure, all of the organs are returned to the body and all incisions carefully sewn. After the body’s proper restoration, no unseemly evidence of the autopsy need remain.
After the gross examination of the body the findings are balanced one against another and a list of pathological findings is compiled; this list comprises the tentative or “provisional anatomical diagnoses.”
Such diagnoses are grouped and arranged in the order of importance and of sequence. On occasion a quick microscopic study is done to confirm a diagnosis so as to assure its proper listing.
Forensic autopsy
The goal of forensic autopsies is to determine whether or not death was due to natural causes. The identification of the deceased and of all specimens taken from the body is critical; the time of death and the blood grouping must, if possible, be established. In all autopsies, but especially in forensic cases, findings must be dictated to a stenographer or recording instrument during the actual performance of the procedure. The record often becomes legal evidence and therefore must be complete and accurate.
(Written with information from Encyclopaedia Britannica)
