Forensic Pathology News
Dr. Young will post links to news articles that interest him about
forensic pathology, medical examiners, coroners and death
investigation in this section.
Pathology in the News
- Why do people confess to crimes they didn't commit?
- The confession has been called the king of evidence, as good as a conviction. And so it seems incredulous that innocent people would incriminate themselves by confessing to something they didn't actually do.
- Where Science Enters the Courtroom, the Daubert Name Looms Large
- Too much Daubert, not enough Inferential Test.
- A doctor said she had extensive training in diagnosing child abuse. Her résumé shows otherwise.
- Dr. Elizabeth Woods' report of abuse helped separate a Washington mother from her children. But a judge said Woods' testimony was “without supporting factual basis.”
- Maryland medical examiner’s office scrambling to fill jobs as homicides, drug deaths fuel need for autopsies
- The Maryland medical examiner’s office is scrambling to fill persistent and new vacancies that are threatening its ability to handle a crushing load of cases stemming from the long-running opioid epidemic and a stubbornly high pace of homicides in Baltimore. Compounding the problem, the state’s longtime and well regarded chief medical examiner left the office at the end of 2019, citing the challenges the office faces in coping with the overdose crisis. An assistant is serving as acting chief examiner while a search is made.
- Opinion: Fix forensic science to aid criminal justice reform
- Sens. Tom Barrett and Stephanie Chang have introduced legislation that would create such a commission and require forensic science laboratories and providers to meet national accreditation standards in order to practice in Michigan.
- Forensic pathologist says Bidwell’s girlfriend was murdered
- Ross , who based his opinion on a review of pictures of the crime scene taken June 2, 2011, and the autopsy , as well as documents and reports, said Wagner was already dead when someone positioned her body in such a way that it was hanging from a loop of electrical cable. “She’s dead already and she’s placed in there,” he said. The jury heard a morbid description of the death process the body goes through in a hanging, of how it goes through rhythmic movements and convulsions. “That didn’t happen,” Ross said. “The whole scene is staged.”
- Florida’s top child abuse pediatrician justifies questionable findings of abuse
- “We do not set out to diagnose abuse"
- EXCLUSIVE: Polk County medical examiner loses job, cites 'infighting' as cause
- POLK COUNTY, Iowa — Polk County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Greg Schmunk confirmed to KCCI on Wednesday that his employment has been terminated. Schmunk said he was let go Monday, but administrators at Polk County said they cannot comment because it is a personnel matter.
- Ohio county may need a second morgue to handle drug overdose deaths, coroner says
- Franklin County experienced 10 overdose deaths on one day.
- Nirvana Legend Kurt Cobain’s Death Was A Homicide, Expert Says
- Dr. Cyril Wecht, who is a nationally recognized expert of unparalleled experience in the field of forensic pathology, spoke in a recent interview with Nina Daniels from Santa Monica Observer and revealed very blood-curdling claims about the death of legendary Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. In the interview, Mr. Wecht claimed that Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain’s tragic death was a homicide staged as a suicide.
Pathology Links
- ACCPE means Affirming the Consequent for Complex Past Events. It is The Sherlock Effect.
- Whenever an expert states the past events that occurred on the basis of looking only at the physical evidence without reference to eyewitness statements, he or she is Affirming the Consequent for Complex Past Events. This is not only logically invalid and unsound, it never works in practice, Sherlock Holmes, CSI and Bones notwithstanding. Whenever ACCPE is listed in my comments to a news article, recognize one more tragic example of how this fallacy can destroy lives. ACCPE can also be understood as "backward reasoning,""effect-to-cause reasoning," or "abductive inference."
- American Academy of Forensic Sciences
- ForensicScienceDegree.org
- For further information on forensic science.
- National Association of Medical Examiners