becoming a mortician, what one notices, and police handling of deaths and dead bodies

[pico_the_great]

Little Details, I have a set of questions I've put off asking because they are long and complicated and because I'd had to do massive amounts of research for them, and that, at this point, I can't progress without asking/knowing. AND SO I am moved to come to your world and of ye these questions three many, because please help.

SO.

My Questions

Comments

[pico_the_great]

That first link is brilliant for all kinds of medical info, and the second link I'd passed by in reading, but not in Youtube. Thank you!

[anonymous]

In my experience, post mortems were not common at inquests before the 19th century. In the real 16/17th century medical knowledge was not that great, anyway. In the early modern period in England, if a death was suspicious there would be an inquest, presided over by the local coroner (who did not necessarily have any medical background). The jury would probably have seen the body, but I would not expect any kind of cutting open. In England, the coroner submitted a report (often just a bald statement of cause of death) with his claim for his fee and expenses to a court; before the 18th century this was the assize court, which had a professional judge appointed by the crown (central government); later it was the court of quarter sessions, which met four times a year, was presided over by local magistrates (unpaid judges who were people of means). I'm not certain who would have pointed cases in his direction, but I would assume either one of the magistrates, to whom the death had been reported, or possibly the parish or town

[occasionalhope]

Above was me.

[pico_the_great]

Alright, thank you for this!

[dorsetgirl]

It's my understanding that the point of an inquest is, and always has been, not only to determine the cause of death - sometimes that's completely obvious - but to determine exactly how the circumstances causing the death came about. This would then perhaps lead to prosecution of the person whose fault it was, or at least an improvement in safety procedures where no-one was found to be at fault.

This means that inquests are held not only on suspicious deaths, but also on accidental and unexpected ones

[pico_the_great]

Thank you! Also, that phrasing...

[sabotabby]

I know three people who studied as morticians and one girl about the age of your MC who plans to go into forensics, and I actually have asked all three of them what made them interested in the field. (You could say that I was morbidly curious.) So! Some reasons:

- With one guy, it seemed like a growth industry. Hehe. Seriously, he didn't know what to do after school. He worked as a funeral director for a few years and then decided it wasn't for him.

- The couple I know who met in mortician school were both goths. I guess their aesthetic was always on the dark side, and they both have an interest in zombies and vampires and horror movies, so hey, working with dead people, sounds like fun.

- The girl is really into media like Sherlock and Murdoch Mysteries and so that sparked an interest for her in crime and forensics.

You could have all kinds of motivations, to be honest. I never considered it because I faint at the sight of blood, but as long as it works for the character, you could get away with most things.

[pico_the_great]

Thank you! Yeah, I'm figuring to go with what would work for this character, I just wanted to make sure it wouldn't be odd.

[stormwreath]

Just to mention: in many real-world European countries of the 17th and 18th centuries, it was actually illegal to conduct an autopsy, except in certain special cases. It was considered desecration of a corpse. Partly, this was due to the folk belief that on the Day of Judgement, people would be resurrected in their own bodies - and if those bodies had parts missing, they'd be forced to spend all eternity without them

[pico_the_great]

Thank you very much! Interesting about the searchers - I'll do more reading up on them. And for my world, I don't have that particular taboo from that angle - but I might have others, so I'll have to look into that as well. Thanks!