Tongue protrusion as an indicator of vital burning

Herman Bernitz, Paul J. van Staden, Christine M. Cronjé, René Sutherland

In the forensic assessment of burned bodies, the question of whether the victim was exposed to the fire before or after death is of crucial importance. Several external signs have been used in the past to indicate heat exposure prior to the death of the victim but these did not include tongue protrusion. The internal signs of heat exposure are generally regarded as much more important than those observed externally. No one factor has been found to be totally reliable. This study found a statistically significant dependence between tongue protrusion and presence of soot in the respiratory tract and stomach, the latter being a good indicator of vital burning. The results of this study confirm that tongue protrusion can be used as an additional indicator of vital burning.