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
- KCBD Investigates: Exclusive Interview with former Lubbock County Chief Medical Examiner on backlog of cases
- LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - In his first exclusive television interview since leaving the Lubbock County Medical Examiner’s Office, Dr. Sridhar Natarajan tells his side of the story.
- ‘He was always looking for the truth.’ Former King County medical examiner dies at 81
- Dr. Donald Reay left a long legacy, overseeing more than 5,000 autopsies, making the office one of the first to identify a victim using genetic fingerprinting, and training other medical examiners.
- Lying charges dropped against freelance Medical Examiner Philip Keen
- A Gila County Superior Court judge on Wednesday threw out two felony counts of false swearing against freelance forensic Medical Examiner Philip Keen.
- Medical examiner contract extension appears likely
- The Okaloosa County Commission will be asked Tuesday to extend the contract of Medical Examiner Andrea Minyard until Jan. 30. If commissioners vote to go along with the recommendation of County Attorney Greg Stewart, Minyard’s office will continue to be funded at a $450,000 annual rate, which is just over half of the $844,000 originally budgeted for her office this year.
- Doctors Respond To The NRA By Sharing Gruesome Photos Of Treating Shooting Victims
- I am waiting for a headline that reads, "Doctors Respond To The Public Admitting To Destroying Innocent People Because Of The Sherlock Effect."
- Karina Vetrano murder trial: Medical examiner describes how victim was killed
- "Her cause of death is strangulation," said Dr. Margaret Prial. [Note from Dr. Young: The doctor's testimony above is not to a "reasonable degree of medical certainty" and as such is not reliable as courtroom testimony from a medical expert. It is more likely to be incorrect than correct. If you don't understand what I am writing here, please read the Sherlock Effect.]
- ‘This is not normal.’ To identify Camp Fire remains, Sacramento coroner faces around-the-clock challenge
- As victims from the devastating Camp Fire in Butte County are recovered by search teams, the remains are loaded into body bags, then taken by hearse to refrigerated trucks. Then, they are driven 90 miles south to Sacramento, where Coroner Kim Gin’s staff is facing the biggest challenge she has seen in her time in the office.
- Hundreds of Chicago murders may remain unsolved due to DNA processing delays
- CHICAGO (WLS) -- The ABC7 I-Team looked into delays in processing DNA at the Illinois Forensic Science Lab that one state senator said could be allowing people to get away with murder in Chicago.
- State, Coroner Blame Each Other on Mississippi Autopsy Delay
- A southwest Mississippi coroner and the state's Crime Lab are blaming each other for delays in completing an autopsy report in a year-old murder case.
- Forensics, Justice, and the Case for Science-Based Decision Making
- No mention of the Inferential Test. Without it, these scientists are wandering in the dark.
- Cook County medical examiner appointed to national panel
- Dr. Ponni Arunkumar, Cook County's chief medical examiner, has been appointment to the board of directors of the National Association of Medical Examiners. County leaders said the appointment is a recognition of Arunkumar's leadership at the medical examiner's office, where she's played an instrumental role in implementing new policies and procedures and shaping the culture of the office while upgrading operations and technology. The office received full accreditation from NAME in 2016.
- Grim calculus: Coroners search for those killed in wildfire
- PARADISE, Calif. (AP) — The blue of an unfurled body bag has become a gut-wrenching splash of color in this apocalyptic landscape as pressure mounts to account for the hundreds of missing people after a wildfire roared through the California town of Paradise.
- Identifying wildfire dead: DNA, and likely older methods too
- With the death toll from the Northern California blaze topping 40 and expected to rise, officials said they were setting up a rapid DNA-analysis system, among other steps.
- COUNTY COMMISSIONERS RECEIVE UPDATE ON MEDICAL EXAMINER FACILITY
- On Oct. 11, 2018, the Board of County Commissioners approved the appointment of Dr. Diane C. Peterson, as deputy county coroner. By the end of this year, the BOCC will be asked to authorize Peterson as county coroner effective Jan. 14, 2019. She will become employed by Johnson County Government as the chief medical examiner on January 2. Peterson will begin performing a limited number of autopsies prior to the completion of the Johnson County Medical Examiner Facility.
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