الفهرس 
I. INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
DEFINITION OF DEATH
Solomon, in all his wisdom, recognized that all men breathe the same air, and that all die. All return to a single place, the dust from which they came and to which they must finally, in death, return. (1)
Basic to any attempt to find an answer to `what is death. Black 1951(2) gave an early definition; the cessation of life or ceasing to exist. According to the court of Kansas Supreme, death is the complete cessation of all vital functions without possibility of resuscitation. (3)
Shapiro 1969 (4) defined death as the irreversible loss of properties of living matter, but it is difficult to appreciate his claim because this definition satisfies the practical requirements for death certification and it does not put in proper perspective the persistence of the biological properties of living matter in the early post-mortem interval. Rentoul and Smith 1973 (5) defined death as complete and persistent cessation of respiration and circulation.
Most of the discussions concerning the definitions of death belong to the field of legal medicine and even to that of ethics, rather than forensic pathology. Thus, prior to description of various post-mortem phenomena, some appreciation is necessary to the zero point from which such changes are timed. (6)
TYPES OF DEATH
It is conventional to describe two types of death:
1. Somatic death, systemic or clinical in which the person irreversibly loses his sentient personality, being unconscious and unable to initiate any voluntary movement.(6)
In somatic death, though life ceases in the body as a whole, it persists in its component parts, as tissues and cells, which respond to chemical, thermal or electrical stimuli. After somatic death, tissues and cells continue to survive for varying periods depending upon their oxygen requirements. When these individual tissues and cells die, it is termed cellular or molecular death.(3,6)
2. Cellular or molecular death, in which the tissues and their constituent cells are dead, that is, they no longer function or have metabolic activity.(6) It signifies loss of life in the component parts of the body, and is accompanied by cooling, and changes in the eyes, skin and muscles. Molecular death is generally complete within three to four hours of somatic death.(7)
Cellular death follows the ischemia and anoxia inevitably consequent upon cardio-respiratory failure, but it is a process rather than an event, except in the exceptionally rare circumstances of almost instantaneous total bodily destruction, such as falling into molten metal or nuclear explosion. Even fragmentation of a body by a bomb does not kill all cells instantly. Different tissues die at different rates, the cerebral cortex is vulnerable to only a few minutes anoxia, whereas connective tissues and even muscles survive for hours after the cessation of the circulation.(6)
The distinction between somatic and cellular death is important for two main reasons: (3, 6, 7)
(1) Disposal of the body in rare instances: when the body is cremated soon after somatic death, spontaneous movements of the hands and feet may occur on the funeral pyre and may give rise to the apprehension that the person was not actually dead but was prematurely disposed of.
(2) Transplantation: the viability of transplantable organs falls sharply after somatic death.