Thousands of autopsies are performed every year in Australia. Who has one, and what can they reveal?
No one saw Tyson Manders fall. One minute, the 26-year-old father of two was off riding motorbikes with his wife’s nephews at their farm. The next, he was lying motionless on the ground. The family had been celebrating a birthday outdoors, laughing over lunch. Tyson’s wife, Georgie, was still sitting at the table when her nephew ran up to find help. The moment she found Tyson, she knew he had died. “I just had this feeling,” Georgie says. “He was still and looked peaceful.
Whether people we love or know might one day need an autopsy is not something we tend to think about. Most deaths, after all, don’t require investigators to get to the bottom of them. Yet for some deaths, this is a legal requirement. In 2022, 190,775 people died in Australia. Of these, forensic pathologists examined about 15,000 bodies.AdvertisementAt a state mortuary, a technician gently wipes fluid from the mouth of a deceased man.
This is done deftly and with great care. “We are always making sure we don’t hurt the deceased, even though we know, in theory, that’s not possible,” Leditschke says. The Every weekday, a coroner meets with pathologists and staff overseeing admissions and enquiries to “triage” cases. All suspicious deaths receive an autopsy. For others, a CT scan, a toxicology report, an external examination and information from police and doctors might be sufficient to determine the cause of death. Victoria’s mortuary is due next year to be the first in Australia to have an MRI scanner, which will give clearer resolution of brain and heart conditions to complement a CT scan.
Afterwards, just a thin line of neat stitches is visible. “A family, even though they are aware an autopsy has taken place, they actually shouldn’t be able to tell, if he was wearing a singlet or an open- shirt,” Leditschke says. The technician washes the body with running water, lifting each arm carefully, dries the skin with towels then places a shroud over it and wheels it from the room. It will likely now be released, with a provisional cause of death if the coroner allows.
The autopsy will also consider whether the person’s health played a role. “It’s not exactly rocket science that they’ve been shot or stabbed, but it’s the that the autopsy is for – not just for the prosecution but for the defence.” Depending on the case, the hands, fingernails or injuries can carry trace evidence that helps police identify suspects or objects of interest. Pathologists take swabs but are rarely privy to the results. “We’re not necessarily about who did it,” Iles says.
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