Science desk
< May 13	<< Apr \| May \| Jun >>	Current desk >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Science Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

May 14

dead person bleeding

Blecccch. Apparently a guy died of natural causes in his apartment, and some time later, the body started dripping blood into the apartment one floor below. The lady in the lower apt. saw the blood dripping, understandably freaked out, called the landlord, and the fire dept. came and found the dead body and figured out what had happened. Apparently something similar (per the article) happened at another location some time ago too.

Is that a normal thing, for dead bodies (that haven't been stabbed or anything like that) to leak blood? Does it happen after some period of decomposition, or what? I have never heard of anything like that, which is probably just as well. Thanks. 2601:648:8200:970:0:0:0:B6C3 (talk) 19:46, 14 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I doubt that that liquid was actual blood. Ruslik_Zero 20:28, 14 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Non-expert comment: Consider that the decedent may have suffered a stroke or heart attack and suddenly collapsed; then while falling, they might be wounded by hitting something sharp. After death the blood isn't under pressure any more, but it can and will flow to a lower place if it can. Usually it pools in the lowest parts of the decedent's body, but if the wound is in those parts, I think leakage would certainly make sense. --184.147.181.129 (talk) 21:19, 14 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Sounds good to me. As for the story, the yuckiness of the universe will always surprise me. Imagine Reason (talk) 22:47, 14 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

No wound is necessary for the skin of a decomposing corpse to become leaky. --Lambiam 09:40, 15 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

But if the body is decomposing, the suggestion that the liquid wasn't "actual blood" might apply. Anyway, I'm not going to look for references on this yucky business. --184.147.181.129 (talk) 05:56, 17 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The article doesn't provide a time of death for the upstairs fellow, but that's going to play a key part in determining what was leaking. Even a small injury in the right place could cause quite a lot of blood loss since the body can no longer heal itself. However, if the decedent had been there for an extended period of time, it's more likely that the liquid was more of a, well, a slurry of the body contents. See corpse decomposition. Basically the question is whether the corpse was at the "fresh" stage or the "active decay" stage. Matt Deres (talk) 14:54, 17 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]