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
- George Floyd autopsy report
- The autopsy and toxicology results are released to the public.
- Want police reform? We need independent medical examiners and coroners.
- Floyd’s death is hardly the only case in which medical examiners have produced baffling findings after conducting autopsies of people who died while in police custody. This case is more proof that if we want police accountability, we need to make sure medical examiners can issue honest, independent reports on how people such as Floyd died. [One more reason to not trust the news to identify problems and solve them.]
- ‘Can’t breathe’: Tacoma police restraint of Manuel Ellis caused his death, medical examiner reports
- TACOMA — Manuel Ellis died in handcuffs while being restrained on the ground by Tacoma police. Although Ellis, an openly struggling addict, had drugs in his system when he died, the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office has determined the 33-year-old died March 3 of respiratory arrest due to hypoxia due to physical restraint. Hypoxia is a deficiency in the amount of oxygen reaching body tissues. Contributing factors included methamphetamine intoxication and dilated cardiomyopathy, commonly known as an enlarged heart.
- Medical examiner: No evidence George Floyd died of strangulation
- Dr. Young: The Hennepin County ME obtained witness accounts prior to making their statements. The autopsy will not tell the whole story.
- George Floyd died of asphyxia: family medical examiner’s autopsy
- Dr. Young: Too much, too soon.
- ‘Professional buffoonery’: Renowned medical examiner Omalu slams Floyd autopsy report
- Dr. Young: Sherlock Omalu weighs in.
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