A newborn infant is found dead, abandoned by the road. Among the many questions that the police would like answered is whether the infant was stillborn. How could the medical examiner tell?


If the infant had been born alive, his or her first breaths would inflate the alveoli from the dense condition during fetal development. Thus, the medical examiner would focus on the lungs. If they are spongy, filled with air, it was a live birth. If not, the infant was stillborn. A simple test is to place the lungs in water. If they float, they are air-filled.

Anatomy & Physiology

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