Why are autopsies performed on people? Why are bodies exhumed from cemetaries?

Answer 1

Autopsies are performed to determine cause of death, they are not done in every death, just ones that may be suicide, murder, accident, or if the family requests it.

Bodies are exhumed when new evidence is discovered that may be proven by an autopsy that may not have been done before burial, example; a man is thought to have died of natural causes and is buried without an autopsy. Months later information comes out that the wife may have poisoned the man, so the investegators have the body exhumed to autopsy to find evidence of poisoning. This happened years ago when there was a supposed Tylenol tampering going on, and it turned out that the first person to die from it, was killed by the wife, and the other tainted bottles were planted to make it look random.

Answer 2

Autopsies tell the coroner or the medical examiner exactly how a person died. And cause of death is important. In some cases, it can confirm or deny a diagnosis made by a doctor -- it's a learning tool for them as well. In court cases, it is important to know exactly what caused a death, in case there are criminal charges involved. Or, on the other hand, at times an autopsy can clear someone of the suspicion of murder because the death was due to natural causes.
There are times when questions have arisen about a death after the person has been buried, so they are exhumed for examination.
Autopsies and exhumations are all about clarification and understanding what has caused a death.

Answer 3

Autopsies are performed because death can not be determined as natural causes. In the event of suicide, unexplained deaths, situations of murder or suspicious deaths an autopsy is is done to determine why the person died.

Bodies are exhumed for much the same reason. Suspected murder could be possible, poisoning, to determine the true cause of death in the event some criminal case comes up involving some other suspicious death, they may link several deaths together. Some evidence stated that a person may not have died of natural causes.

Answer 4

Autopsies are performed to determine the actual cause of death. If foul play has been determined then there is an investigation. Bodies are exhumed for many reasons. One is if there was a discrepancy in the filing of the autopsy report, or something not right about it, they dig up the body.

Answer 5

The primary reason to conduct an autopsy is to determine the cause of death. This is important to know for legal reasons, especially if it may be suspected that the cause of death was a homocide (i.e. death by human, killed by someone else). An exhumation is similar to an autopsy, except that it is performed after the burial. This can be performed for the same reasons as above, and also for scientific research such as determining cause of death, relocating a cemetary, identifying who was buried, etc. This was actually done to President Zachary Taylor to determine if he was poisoned or not. He wasn't.

Answer 6

Autopsies are done to find out the actual cause of death. Bodies are exhumed to find more evidence that may help with the court case of a crime committed or if a person dies mysteriously.

Answer 7

To find out the cause of their death, mostly to determine whether their death was of natural causes or a murder and in case of murder they need to know how they were murdered in order to have more information that will lead to the murderer.

Bodies are exhumed from cemetaries if doubt arises about the cause of death or the identity of the dead person.

Answer 8

These are done do determine the cause of death. Sometimes bodies are exumed when new evidence is found that suggest possible criminal act/ disease process as the cause of death.

Answer 9

To determine the actual cause of death, and/or obtain evidence that can be used to prosecute a law breaker.

Answer 10

Scientific / forensic reasons.