When All Hell Breaks Loose (63 page)

As I have no direct experience with a decaying human, I asked a local mortician what to expect, visibly, when someone dies. He started by telling me that 90 percent of the population could not possibly imagine what a body begins to look like when undergoing decomposition. Depending on heat and bacteria already present within the intestines, a dead body will turn green and then black. The face will swell up, as well as the belly, sometimes to almost twice the person's original size, making the body's identification nearly impossible. The body will eventually blister and the skin will peel away. Fluids will leak from the entire body, not just from body orifices. The body will purge itself, especially if it is moved, and stomach contents will be forced out through the mouth and nose due to the pressure from bloating. These processes can manifest themselves in a day, or within several days, depending upon the variables stated earlier.

I'm not writing this to gross you out or make light of the fact that someone you loved died. I'm writing this to let you know that the body of whoever died, if allowed to decompose in the open for even a short period of time, will look very different. Know this now so you're not scared or freaked out if and when you see it in the future. Our modern society has made death, and the results thereafter, all but invisible to the majority of the population. Bodies that are viewed at a funeral have undergone serious modifications, and Aunt Betty is made to look as if she's only sleeping. Major disasters will stretch emergency response personnel to the limit, and all of the wonderful firemen, police, and medical personnel who would normally save you from having to witness death in its raw state may be unavailable to be a first responder in your situation.

How to Dispose of a Dead Body in a Pinch

Basic precautions should be followed when handling all bodies, regardless of their apparent state of decomposition.
Although most organisms in a dead body are not likely to infect a healthy person, some infectious agents may be transmitted to those who are in close contact with blood, body fluids, and tissues of a body that died with infectious diseases
. Handling dead bodies increases risks for bloodborne viruses caused from direct contact with leaking blood or body fluids. Since dead bodies commonly leak feces (one drop of feces contains millions of microorganisms), gastrointestinal infections can easily be contracted from direct contact with the body, soiled clothes, or contaminated vehicles and equipment. The following are basic precautions to take when needing to prepare for and dispose of a dead body.

Ensure universal precautions against blood and body fluids at all times!

When handling dead bodies, do not smoke, eat, or drink, and avoid touching your mouth, eyes, or nose.

Wear disposable latex or vinyl gloves when handling the body or anything associated with the body. Cover all of your cuts and abrasions with waterproof bandages or dressings. If you don't have disposable gloves, improvise mittens from zipper-lock bags, anchoring them at the wrists with rubber bands or tape. If nothing else, sacrifice a pair of winter gloves or mittens. Dispose of them or wash and disinfect them afterward.

To prevent exposure of blood or bodily fluids to the mucous membranes of your eyes, nose, and mouth, wear masks and protective eyewear or face shields when coming in contact with a corpse. These can be improvised from construction-related equipment, such as dust masks and goggles or masks used for operating power saws or welding equipment.

Wear gowns, aprons, or other improvised coveralls when doing anything that will likely splash blood or other bodily fluids. Be sure to thoroughly disinfect and wash these garments. The disinfection method used before washing or disposal should be done by soaking the items for thirty minutes in a freshly prepared 0.1 percent chlorine bleach solution (1:50 dilution.) If disposing of these items, wrap them up securely in a plastic bag and discard in a safe place or burn them in a fire-safe environment. Coveralls can be made with fifty-five-gallon barrel liners or plastic lawn and leaf bags, a cutting edge, and duct tape, or improvised from plastic "painter" coveralls or rain gear. The sooner you deal with a dead body, the less it will be affected by the decomposition process.

Wash hands and other parts of your our body thoroughly if they come in contact with bodily fluids. Even if no apparent contact was made with bodily fluids, wash up thoroughly anyway. Your hands should be washed immediately and dipped in a chlorine bleach solution upon removing your gloves and disposing of them properly.

Disinfect all equipment, vehicles, and contaminated surfaces after disposal of the body with a freshly prepared 0.1 percent chlorine bleach solution (1:50 dilution). Any spilled blood or body fluids should be carefully wiped up with a 1 percent chlorine bleach solution (1:5 dilution).

Use body bags whenever possible. If need be, these can be improvised from triple or quadruple (or more) layers of fifty-five-gallon barrel liners, or roll the body up inside several layers of plastic sheeting. If in doubt, use more layers of plastic, as the containment of blood and body fluids are the main concern and a decomposing body will leak fluids more and more as it breaks down. The plastic bags or sheeting should be secured tightly with duct tape or something similar. Don't use safety pins or anything that will puncture the plastic. If you need to transport the body or handle the "plastic package" more than usual, and the outside of the plastic bag gets blood or body fluids on it, wipe the bag down with a 0.1 percent chlorine bleach solution (1:50 dilution). Note: Wrapping the body up with impermeable materials will cause the body to decompose more rapidly and temporarily prevent the earth from neutralizing some of the mess. However, your duty is to prevent the living from being exposed to blood or body fluids
from the corpse. If the identity of the body disposed of is unknown, and the body is exhumed in the future for identification or transfer to a permanent resting place, authorities should have no problem identifying the corpse through the use of DNA testing. Even so, you may consider sealing any identifying objects, such as items in the pockets or jewelry, in a plastic bag and burying it with the corpse.

Graves should be dug at least one hundred feet away from all surface water sources and the bottom of any grave must be at least five feet above the water table with a two-foot unsaturated zone. Use common sense and reread the sanitation chapter if necessary. (Note: While I personally support cremation over the burying of bodies, cremation in a time of disaster will use up precious fuel and pose a risk to the living through fire danger. Think how much heat is required to cook a burger on the grill, let alone to completely consume a 150-pound body. Cremation will also make identifying the body in the future, if its identity is not already known, next to impossible.) Dig a hole in accordance to the size of the body. A standard cemetery hole is eight feet long by three feet wide and seven and a half feet deep. This depth is to compensate for a traditional casket, so your hole can be much shallower. If need be, two people can be buried, one on top of the other. The depth of your hole will be affected by what tools you have to dig with, the hardness of the earth, groundwater levels, and what kind of critters might try to dig up the body. Some people, before covering the body with earth, have covered the body with thorny bushes such as blackberries, raspberries, or other painful vegetation that will physically stop dogs and other animals from reaching the body. Attempt to have the body under at least three feet of earth. Mound up the earth several inches on top of the hole and tamp it down by walking on it; newly deposited earth will settle over time. Mark the grave for future location in a way that identifies who is buried there, if known, or at least that a body has been buried there, if you don't know its identity.

If blood or body fluids from the dead body enter your body through "splash exposure" into the eyes, mouth, or any mucous membranes or through an exposed injury, wash the injured or exposed areas with copious amounts of disinfected running water. Encourage minor penetrating injuries to bleed. Use liberal amounts of topical disinfectant like povidone iodine 10 percent, lightly cover with a breathable sterile bandage, and seek medical help if possible for further treatment of the exposure.

Initiate a funeral ceremony or rite-of-passage ritual to begin closure and healing for the family and all concerned.

Ensure universal precautions against blood and body fluids at all times!