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
- Beware of forensic experts expressing certainty
- Even when experts carry out their work conscientiously, they may fall into the trap of believing that their results are more conclusive than is actually the case.
- Attorneys for ex-officer charged in Floyd's death call medical examiner's testimony into question
- Attorneys for Tou Thao filed a motion that said former Washington D.C. medical examiner, Dr. Roger Mitchell, coerced Dr. Andrew Baker into changing his findings to include "neck compression" as part of Floyd's cause of death..."In this conversation, Mitchell said, you don't want to be the medical examiner who tells everyone they didn't see what they saw. You don't want to be the smartest person in the room and be wrong," the motion said. " … Mitchell said neck compression has to be in the diagnosis."
- Forensic evidence details gruesome death of Jake Anderson-Brettner in murder trial of Jack Sadler
- Crown prosecutor Daryl Coates SC, who is Tasmania's Director of Public Prosecutions, asked how long it would have taken for the body to be dismembered. "Probably at least half an hour," Dr Lawrence responded.
- Junk science puts even more babies at risk of abusive head trauma
- Pseudo-experts have falsely claimed that a debate is raging in the medical community about whether abusive head trauma is a real diagnosis. Let me be clear: There is no controversy. A 2016 study of doctors at 10 leading U.S. children’s hospitals found the vast majority of physicians — 93% — agreed that AHT is a valid diagnosis. And a 2018 consensus statement, supported by eight medical societies representing subspecialists in a number of countries, including Norway, Sweden and Japan, affirmed that AHT is scientifically non-controversial and recognized throughout the world.
- Why We Need a National Forensic Science Agency
- Forensic science is about to be dramatically transformed in Britain. A bill now in the final stages before it becomes law later this year, the Forensic Science Regulator Act, will put the implementation and enforcement of forensic science standards under the oversight of a single central government official.
- Mississippi congressman asking for investigation into death ‘equal to the George Floyd situation’
- “No question it’s equal to the George Floyd situation,” he said, alluding to the 2020 death of Floyd after a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for more than nine minutes.
- Maine’s controversial medical examiner doesn’t want to be reappointed
- Dr. Mark Flomenbaum, Maine’s chief medical examiner, told the governor’s office that he does not wish to be reappointed after his term expires next month, the Portland Press Herald reported.
- Independent panel to audit cases of former Md. chief medical examiner who testified in Derek Chauvin’s defense
- Fowler could not be immediately reached on Friday but said earlier he formed his opinion in collaboration with 13 other experts.
- Forensic science failings risk miscarriages of justice, say peers
- “High-quality forensic science is crucial for the operation of justice. It is important to the accused, both guilty and innocent; it is important to victims, both existing and potentially in future; it is important to the police, judges and advocates to enable them to do their job properly; it is important to juries who need confidence in the quality of the forensic evidence to allow them to be as sure as possible about their decisions; and it is important to the public on whose behalf the criminal justice system works. But it is clear that, for whatever reason, not usually the fault of those who work in the service, the service has let us all down over recent years and lost its former high reputation.”
- Doña Ana County man charged in death of baby
- The infant – described as purple, unresponsive and not breathing – was taken by ambulance to Memorial Medical Center, where she underwent an initial assessment. There, deputies were advised that the child had “regained a pulse” but was in critical condition, records say.
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