Exhumation is the lawful disinterment of a buried body from its grave. Magistrates can order for exhumation and subsequent examination of the dead body. There is no limit fixed for disinterment in Kenya.
- Reasons for exhumation
- To establish the cause of death when suspicion of foul play/dispute about the cause of death arises after burial or when the body was secretly disposed of after murder
- To establish the identity in civil cases to claim insurance, inheritance, and damage in accident cases. Consent is necessary in this case.
- Steps involved in exhumation
- written authorization for autopsy from magistrate
- burial site is identified positively- by relatives, caretakers of cemetery or by assailant in murder cases
- Medical officer must be available at time of exhumation
- digging should be done carefully and effort made to avoid damage to the coffin and corpse
- coffin and corpse to be identified
- before autopsy, a detailed history of the case may be sought
- autopsy to be performed in daytime under natural light
- privacy during examination should be maintained
- if facilities permit, take X ray of entire body
- autopsy should be carried out as is routinely done
- in addition to routine viscera for chemical analysis, the following samples should be collected:
- bones
- nails
- hair
- samples of soil from above, below and the sides of the coffin
- look for evidence of previous autopsy
- all observations made during the examination must be properly recorded in the postmortem notes then and there
- Limitations to exhumation
- Advanced decomposition may hamper the identification of injuries and the disease process
- Lifting fingerprints for identification is difficult due to mummified and blackened fingers
- Artifacts due to the burial and embalming process can cause serious handicaps
- Interpretation can be limited to skeletal injuries and the presence of foreign bodies (including poison) if the body is decomposed to the point of non-identification
- It is impossible to confirm or reject the diagnosis of suffocation, drowning, embolism, pneumothorax, etc.
- There may be significant alterations brought about by the first autopsy
- Scope of an autopsy of an exhumed body
- Identification of fractures
- The presence of foreign bodies e.g. bullets, pellets, and parts of weapons – The nature of death
- Analysis of viscera for poisoning cases
- Identity through forensic odontology (skull and mandible)
- Embalmed bodies may have details preserved
