Australia – SPECIALIST mortuaries will be needed to cope with an increasingly obese population, one of the state’s leading pathologists warns.
University of Adelaide pathology professor and forensic pathologist Roger Byard said the state’s mortuary had experienced a three-fold increase in the number of bodies that were morbidly obese. Performing an autopsy on these bodies is difficult.
Professor Byard said the most recent data showed the number of morbidly obese bodies undergoing autopsy had increased from 1.3 per cent in 1986 to 4.8 per cent in 2006.
“It’s difficult at all levels, from treating people of that size in hospital to actually performing autopsies, just moving the body from a trolley to a table,” he said.
Professor Byard said while Forensic Science SA was coping, specialist sections in mortuaries might be necessary in the future.
This could include a refrigerated dissection room with a separate door so bodies could be loaded from transport vehicles directly on to autopsy tables.
The refrigerated room would remove the need to move the bodies again, and hoists with up to 800kg capacity would enable the bodies to be lifted without injuring mortuary workers.
In the UK last year, a Birmingham company developed a battery-powered stacker capable of lifting up to 380kg for use in hospital mortuaries after finding its 190kg-capacity machine was no longer sufficient.
Up to 20 hospitals around the country were installing “super-sized’ fridges to cope with larger bodies.
Prof Byard said morbidly obese bodies caused problems in manual handling and did not fit in standard refrigeration bays. Fattier bodies also decompose faster and can pose an occupational health and safety risk.
“What’s it going to be like in the next 20 years? I just don’t think we know how far this is going.”
Forensics SA performs about 1200 autopsies each year for violent or unusual deaths, or where a doctor cannot issue a cause of death.
The increasing obesity of the population is also affecting funeral directors.
Master funeral director Clayton Scott, owner of Nuriootpa’s Clayton Scott Funerals and former president of the Australian Funeral Director’s Association, said coffin manufacturers were “aware of the trend and are gearing up their products to cater to larger people”.
“It’s more about event management. We’ll measure the church doors to make sure the coffin will fit.”
