Algor mortis

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Algor mortis (from Latin algor = cold and mors = death), also dead cold or corpse cold is the medical technical term for the reduced body temperature after death due to the absence of heat-generating oxidative metabolic processes in the corpse .

It is found at an inquest and is used to determine the time of death. The time of death is entered in the death certificate and, for example, if several relatives die almost simultaneously, it has inheritance consequences, in particular for the succession ( Section 1922 (1) BGB), but also the hereditary capacity ( Section 1923 (1) BGB).

XY graph of the Glaister equation with values ​​between 37 ° and 20 ° (a frequently specified ambient temperature)

The relationship is described by the Glaister equation named after the Scottish forensic scientist John Glaister , which aligns the actually exponential course to a straight line with 2 ° during the first hour and then 1 ° per hour until the body temperature equates to the ambient temperature.

The core body temperature is measured deep rectally at a distance of 8 cm from the sphincter muscle . After an initial temperature plateau of 2-3 h duration, the temperature drops about 0.5-1.5 ° C / h, depending on the ambient temperature, storage, clothing, coverage, body proportions and weather conditions.

The body temperature adjusts to the (usually lower) ambient temperature, whereby a temperature gradient builds up from the body core to the body shell, influenced by heat radiation and evaporation on the body surface as well as by convection (heat dissipation through the air flow) and conduction (the heat conduction, depending on this where and how the body lies). With so many different factors, a determination of the algor mortis alone is often of little value in relation to the time of death. Therefore, the formation of dead spots , rigor mortis and the mechanical excitability of the skeletal muscles are also used.

Body temperature is one of the uncertain signs of death , as people who are still alive can be hypothermic .

As a rule of thumb: After death, the body temperature (approx. 37 ° C) falls to room temperature (approx. 21 ° C) at approx. 0.8 ° C per hour, i.e. H. the temperature equalized after about 19 hours.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.fmap.archives.gla.ac.uk/DC403/DC403_page.htm
  2. ↑ Guharaj, PV: Cooling of the body (algor mortis) . In: Forensic Medicine , 2nd. Edition, Longman Orient, Hyderabad 2003, pp. 61-62.
  3. ↑ Burkhard Madea, Reinhard Dettmeyer: Medical examination of the corpse and death certificate. Competent implementation despite different laws of the federal states Deutsches Ärzteblatt , November 28, 2003, A 3161
  4. ↑ Burkhard Madea, Reinhard Dettmeyer: Medical examination of the corpse and death certificate. Competent implementation despite different laws of the federal states Deutsches Ärzteblatt , November 28, 2003, A 3172