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
- Time for war: Coroner, recovering addict once sentenced in Tipton Co. murder speak at Addiction Impact Panel
- KOKOMO – Death, on Monday night, was the theme at the Kokomo Family YMCA. Addressing the topic, with a sense of both solemnity and inspiration to a group of dozens gathered at white-top round tables in a YMCA conference room, were two people with intimate knowledge of death and its increasingly pervasive relationship with drug addiction.
- Ohio forensic scientists discover OxiClean can safely clean up Fentanyl spills
- BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Forensic science researchers at an Ohio university have discovered that a certain household cleaning product can help law enforcement agencies clean up Fentanyl spills.
- Controversial medical examiner backs off ‘shaken baby’ claim in death penalty case
- This week, the controversial former Mississippi medical examiner Steven Hayne testified at a hearing for Jeffrey Havard. Havard was convicted in 2002 of sexually assaulting and shaking to death Chloe Britt, the 6-month-old daughter of Havard’s live-in girlfriend. Havard has always maintained that the infant hit her head on the toilet after he dropped her while giving her a bath.
- Medical Examiner: Sabrina Ray Died of ‘Malnutrition Due to Denial of Care’
- Iowa: I wonder if there is any of this that is actually true.
- Jury Returns Guilty Verdict in Decker Trial
- Virginia: More doctor related damage: "Decker claims Ezra fell in the shower, however the medical examiner said the injuries are more consistent with falling from a great height, a car accident, or were inflicted. She also believes the bruises occurred around the same time."
- Chief Medical Examiner predicts less drug-related deaths in NH for 2017 compared to 2016
- New Hampshire: Not only do doctors speculate about past events but they also speculate about future ones.
- Boxes of Bones: Medical Examiner’s office trying to solve oldest, coldest cases
- A skeleton wearing a Doobie Brothers T-shirt found behind a West Bottoms warehouse in 1989. The body of a man in his 40s, tangled in the branches of a tree in 1995. A man’s bones discovered in the sewer by city workers in 1998. These are just a few of the 22 unidentified bodies that the Jackson County Medical Examiner’s office recently began trying to identify as part of a new undertaking with the Kansas City Police Department Missing Persons Unit.
- Duval Medical Examiner Seeks Larger Building As Drug Deaths Mount
- For the third year in a row, the proposed Jacksonville city budget contains no money for updating or expanding the medical examiner’s office —that’s despite an increased workload and overcrowding from drug-overdose deaths. On Friday, Duval Medical Examiner Valerie Rao presented the City Council Finance Committee with a $4.5 million funding request.
- Ingham County Commissioners approve pay boost to Sparrow for medical examiner services
- LANSING, Mich (WLNS) – Sparrow Hospital officials are asking eight counties, including Ingham County, who use their medical examiner services for more money. And now they’re one step closer to reaching a deal. A committee for the Ingham County Board of Commissioners approved a plan to pay another $270,000 to Sparrow. That will bring their total contribution to more than $700,000.
- After Ending Obama-era Commission, Justice Department Announces New Forensic Science Review
- The Justice Department is forming a new working group to create uniform standards for forensic science evidence used in trials, but criminal defense organizations worry the new in-house group will lack independence.
- County: $918K likely cost of ending Sparrow ME contract
- LANSING - Ingham County will consider whether to pay about $270,000 more a year for medical examiner services from Sparrow Hospital. The $702,000 contract would still be less costly than if the county itself operated the office, according to a memo to commissioners.
- Medical Examiner did not complete autopsies and toxicology screens on time, auditor says
- The Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner regularly failed to process autopsies, toxicology screens and death certificates on time from 2013 through 2016, potentially holding up criminal prosecutions and insurance claims, according to a recent state audit. But the medical examiner's office says those delays have largely vanished over the last year, due to reforms not reflected in the auditor's report.
- Florida medical examiner overwhelmed with overdose victims requests more funds
- JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The medical examiner, who for months has been overwhelmed with bodies of people who have overdosed on opioid, made her case Friday for additional funds as the City Council committee is reviewing the $1.2 billion budget proposal for next year. "We have no space. On a Monday especially," Chief Medical Examiner Valarie Rao said. "Sometimes we have to call in to get the bodies out."
- Many Cremains Go Unclaimed at Idaho County Coroner's Offices
- CALDWELL, Idaho (AP) — Cornelia Shaw died July 6, 1998. Nothing else is known about her, and no one has ever claimed her as their own. For the last 19 years, Shaw's ashes have rested in a cremation box on a storage shelf in the back corner of the Canyon County Coroner's Office, sitting among extra office supplies.
Pathology Links
- ACCPE means Affirming the Consequent for Complex Past Events
- 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