How can a pathologist withhold a neck?

Question

What does that mean? the woman that died at the Phoenix airport had an autopsy and the pathologist is withholding the neck, heart and brain. Simply put, did they decapitate her or just remove the contents of the neck?

Answer 1

That simply means they kept the contents of the neck, the tongue (you'd be surprised how far back it goes), the thyoid and thyroid glands, trachea, etc., etc. As far as the above answer from Dan, no offense, but that goes to show why you should not give answers based on what you see on a TV drama show, because it is simply that, TV and drama, it is not meant to be used for factual or real instances.
The head is never decapitated for autopsy, that would be completely unneccessary.

Answer 2

It can be done for legal reasons and to determine what killed the person. In this case it could be dissection or actual physical removal of the head.

In an autopsy it is normal to remove the brain for examination, in fact on shows like CSI it is usally where the doctor starts, unless he or she makes the thorax incision. Doctors like to find out what is wrong, what killed the person and leave the corpse in a condition where the funeral can be an open casket. For them to decapitate the head is extreme. Normally only the skull has to be cut open and the brain can be dug out. Even if it is a strangulation doctors performing an autopsy don't have to remove the head to determine things like if the hyoid bone was broken (it can only be done during strangulation). This sounds extreme, but then when you are pursuing a killer extremes are what you want the doctor and the police to resort to.

It is legal, and extreme, and would only be done if absolutely necessary.

Answer 3

No. Pathologist can delay microscopic and chemical examination of any part of the body and announce the opinion later but body parts except small slices of tissues can not be removed.

Answer 4

Good question! Gory thought!