Livor mortis - the 'blush of death'
1School of Biomedicine, Adelaide University, Frome Road, Adelaide, South Australia, 5005, Australia.
Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine
|June 19, 2026
Abstract:
Livor mortis refers to the pooling of blood in dependent parts of the body after death due to a gravitational effect on red blood cells. It develops over a particular time period, although there are great individual variations, and once it becomes 'fixed' may be a useful indicator that a body has been moved after death. The observation of patchy areas of lividity, not always in dependent areas however, suggests that the mechanism of its development must involve more than simple gravity.
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