Bloated bodies - how easily will they spew if disturbed?

Okay, there’s another on the list of people who have worse jobs than mine. :smiley:

I concur. I used to do lots of horse necropsies and some occasional cow necropsies, and the guts sure can blow if you’re not careful. Even if you do the necropsy immediately after their death, you have to be careful.

I asked a police detective I know about this. He said bodies can stay for months bloated–if you were to see one just briefly, according to him, a 150-lb 5’8" White guy would be called in as a 6’ 300-lb Black. But to be more precise, he said the skin color is the same as a rotten banana when it goes from brown to near-black.

On the other hand, a body might pop (his word) quite soon, relatively, after death, depending on its position when rigor mortis sets in, when a bloated part would butt up against another part of the body. More often is when a body pops when it is handled or a door hits it when you enter an apartment. He told me he hates that when it happens.