The Autopsy tells the Real Story

Over the years my clients have come from many walks of life.  It certainly has kept my job interesting.  Quite of few are from law enforcement, including a DEA officer, FBI agent, assistant district attorney, and numerous police officers including several police detectives.  Learning interesting aspects of their careers have widened my knowledge of many things that I would have otherwise never have known.  One special insight came with the opportunity to observe an autopsy.  All of the years I have cared for people have made me curious about how the human body looked from the inside out.  

When there is a suspicious death, a police detective needs to be present for the autopsy to document the facts as they are found.  One of my clients was sharing with me an interesting case that she was involved with as I exclaimed how incredible it would be to observe an autopsy.  And so one day my odd wish became a reality after I received a phone call from this client telling me that I could be an observer of an autopsy of a 31-year-old man.

The man had suffered from asthma, which during the course of the autopsy proved to be the cause of his death with the discovery of mucous plugs blocking his airway passages.  He also used illicit drugs.  Such drugs slow the bowels significantly and so it was no surprise to see a colon full of large balls of hardened feces.  Typically the colon, or large bowel, is two and a half inches in diameter and the small bowel is only one inch in diameter.  With this man it was difficult to distinguish the two organs, since even the small bowel was greatly enlarged with hardened feces.  His stomach contents also revealed that his diet of French-fries and hamburgers added to his slow bowel transit time and resulting constipation.

It should be of no surprise that I also enjoy medical shows on television including Dr. G. Medical Examiner.  The following is one such show of an autopsy of a 32-year-old man.  Although there is no graphic filming of the autopsy, beware, it is a little overwhelming. But education can be a powerful tool and this video says a lot. 

Due to size, I couldn’t download the video directly to this page, so please follow the link.
You will be glad you did. It is 7 min. 45 sec. long.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj3d7p2Fu6M

Dr. G found that Donald’s bowel was thin.  The bowel, or colon, is a muscle and needs to get a workout.  By eating fiber rich foods such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains we strengthen our colon wall by giving it the needed workout.  Donald’s diet clearly was extremely low in fiber making his colon weak, so weak that feces piled up more and more, at an alarming amount.  It is interesting to note that the colon doesn’t typically explode from enormous amounts of impacted feces.  It just gets larger and larger, just like a person that gains weight doesn’t explode but gets larger as well.  

Donald’s final cause of death was an e-coli infection that overwhelmed his immune system.  Did you notice how the e-coli got into his bloodstream?  The colon is designed to allow valuable nutrients and electrolytes to be absorbed through the colon wall into the bloodstream while the waste products stay in the colon to be removed into the toilet.  This is similar to a screen on a window that allows fresh air in but keeps the bugs out.  Yet, if the screen has holes in it, the bugs come in.  The more holes, the more bugs.  The colon’s ecology is extremely vital for good health to allow for the good to be absorbed and the bad to be removed.  In Donald’s case, his colon’s ecology was greatly altered causing copious amounts of e-coli to leave the bowel entering his bloodstream and ultimately killing him.  How very sad.  With a little education as to the importance of caring for this important organ and not taking it for granted, Donald may still be alive today.

I hope this shocking tale will help you to not take the health of your colon for granted.

I am happy to help you along the way.  Thank you so much for reading.