Purple bowel misdiagnosed as intestinal hemorrhage.

When blood-like discoloration is found during the autopsy, forensic pathologists consider a traumatic origin. This paper presents a case of blood-like discoloration of the bowel arising from a natural cause. Intestinal discoloration by beetroot is a postmortem phenomenon explained by the passive diffusion of the pigment from the lumen of the intestine through the autolyzed intestinal mucosa 1.