Artefacts

Artefact " An Artificial Product "- Any structure or change introduced

into the body after death, that is likely to lead misinterpretation of
medico-legally significant ante-mortem findings is considered to be an
artefact.
OR
Artefact is a fact which is not a fact but misinterpreted as a fact.
It may lead to wrong conclusion about cause/manner of death or may
result in non-deduction or undue suspicions of crime and unnecessary
spending of time/effort because of misleading findings.
Artefacts can be divided into 2 groups:

1- Those introduced during the period between death and autopsy.

2- Those introduced during Autopsy.

1- Artefacts introduced during death and autopsy:

For understanding, they are further subdivided into:
a- Angonal Artefacts.
b- Resuscitation Artefacts.
c- Embalming Artefacts.
d- Exhumation Artefacts.
e- Artefacts due to handling of the body.
f- Artifacts related to rigor & lividity.
g- Decomposition Artefacts.
h- Toxicological Artefacts.
i- Miscellaneous Artefacts.

a- Angonal Artefacts: Regurgitation & Aspiration of Gastric contents.

b- Resuscitation Artefacts:
Injection Marks: In cardiac region/extremities. Intra-cardiac injection
associated with bruising of heart and collection of blood in the pericardium.
Cardiac massage: Fracture of ribs, fat and bone marrow embolism during
cardiac massage.
Defibrillator application: Ring shaped bruise over the chest due to
defibrillation.
Positive pressure breathing apparatus: Acute emphysema and air in
mediastinum during application of positive pressure breathing.
c- Artefacts due to Handling of the Body:
Fractures of the cervical spine.
Bruising in occiput.

d- Embalming Artefacts: 2 methods of embalming,

Arterial: at a site of approachable arteries.
With Trocar introduced through abdominal wall.
When embalming is done through the injuries, their number, shape and
dimension gets altered.

e- Artefacts related to Rigor & Postmortem Lividity :

Rigor: 1- Breaking of rigor during handling.
Misjudgment of rigor of heart as hypertrophy.
Lividity: 1- Misjudgment for bruise and of colour in refrigerator and bodies
exposed to cold environment.

f- Artefacts & Exhumation:

1-Ballotment as obesity.
2-Presence of fluid blood in mouth and nose as haemorrhage.
3-Decomposition blebs, skin slip condition as burns.
4-Buttoned shirt groove (contact flattening) simulates ligature mark.
5-Decomposing blood staining in brain, lungs, heart etc.- for asphyxia.
6-Rupture of stomach due to rapid post-mortem acid digestion.
7-Bluish colouration of intestine due to decomposition as infarcted bowel.
8-Post-mortem gas formation in blood especially in large veins and right
heart as embolism.
9-Collection of blood in body cavities due to post-mortem injuries.
10-Post-mortem separation of sutures of the skull.
11-Decomposing pancreas may simulate Haemorrhagic Pancreatitis.

g- Miscellaneous Artefacts:
1-Animal bites under water especially by crabs maybe mistaken as stab
wounds.
2-Tissue damages by boats.
3-Dependent area flattening of cerebral hemisphere convolutions as oedema
of brain.
4-Discolouration of liver at a place of contact with large bowel- (a post-
mortem change) taken as an injury.

2- Artefacts introduced during autopsy:

a-Introduction of air bubbles: into the vessels,
Head (while dura is pulled in saggital line).
Neck (during reflection of skin).

b-Extension of skull fracture during sawing of skull or forceful pulling of

skull cap.
c-Post-mortem tear of mid-brain.
d-Extravasation of blood in soft tissues especially cervical tissue during
post-mortem examination/handling.

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Artefacts in Gunshot Wounds

These Artefacts may add to the difficulty of interpretation. In Gunshot
injuries they maybe divided as,
1-During Treatment: The external injuries maybe modified by therapeutic
procedures. Excision of wound margins and closure of wound by sutures
may make it difficult to identify correctly an entrance and exit wound. The
marks of sutures may appear as gunpowder tattooing. During
hospitalization, victim may sustain "Pseudo gunshot wounds". The trocar
marks and drainage incision in chest & abdomen. A classical example of this
is Kennedy phenomenon. It is surgical alteration of the gunshot wounds on
the neck of President John F.Kennedy which lead to difficulty in evaluation
of that wound and the subsequent controversy raised whether it was an
entrance or an exit wound.
2-Decomposition Artefacts: With the skin slippage there maybe loss of hair
and loss of gunpowder from skin around the entrance wound. The margins
of the entry wound may become ragged due to disintegration of the tissues at
the margins. The size and shape of a gunshot wound may also be
considerably altered by decomposition.
3-Embalming Artefacts: The embalming of bodies maybe arterial through
incisions at the sites of approachable arteries or with a trocar which is
introduced through abdominal wall. The embalmer may enlarge a gunshot
wound or he may introduce trocar through a gunshot wound and modify its
dimensions. Since the skin and subcutaneous tissues are rendered bloodless
and are fixed by embalming, the gunshot wounds sustained during life may
resemble trocar holes. The trocar may disturb the track of bullet within the
body and may even create false tracks. The gunpowder around an entrance
maybe washed or scrubbed.
4-Artifects on X-Rays: There maybe loose bullets fired and unfired in the
clothings. Pockets should be examined for unspent ammunition. If there are
any loose cartridges on clothes and body is X-rayed with clothes on, there
maybe misinterpretation. X-rays may also depict other metallic objects such
as buttons, which resemble a bullet or stem of zipper giving the impression
of a mushroom bullet and a dislodged crown from tooth may resemble a
flattened bullet.
5-Autopsy Artifects: a- Careless cutting of tissues may obliterate the bullet
tracks and the evaluation of angle of fire maybe difficult.
a-Displacement of bullet from one area to the other in the body during an
autopsy may effect conclusions about directions of fire.
b-While sawing off the vault of skull during autopsy, sometimes leads to the
fractures of skull while an antemortem fracture maybe created.
6-Miscellaneous Artefacts: In the investigations of gunshot cases the
findings of unexpected bullets in the body is always a puzzle and may lead
to a false conclusion.
Example of an old bullet: In case of a severely burned body, x-rays showed a
bullet in the posterior wall of chest. This x-ray finding immediately raised
suspicion of murder. However when the bullet was located and removed, it
was found to be well wrapped by dense fibrous tissue.

Example of a new bullet: A man shot him in right temple and the bullet was
recovered from the brain. There was,however,another bullet in the stomach.
The investigation showed a row of beer cans in his house’s backyard, used
as a target. Part of the beer in the cans that had bullet holes had been
consumed. The man drank beer from each can and drank a bullet with the
beer.
Injuries such as puncture wounds and lacerations may resemble exit &
entrance wound.

Importance of Identifying an Artefact:

The misinterpretation due to artefacts may lead to:
1-Wrong cause of death.
2-Wrong manner of death.
3-Undue suspicion of criminal offense.
4-A break in the investigations of a homicide or non-detection of a murder.
5-Wasting of time.
6-Miscarriage of justice.