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
- Documents suggest Chief Medical Examiner tried to hide info from Boston 25
- Internal documents obtained by Boston 25 News on Thursday suggest the Chief Medical Examiner herself tried to hide this information from this news station. 25 Investigates obtained the emails late Thursday afternoon through a public records request. A reporter spent more than two hours looking through them. The 26 pages of internal emails reveal behind the scenes conversations at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, including exchanges about Boston 25.
- 2 Onondaga County officials could get 30% raises in plan to recruit new medical examiner
- The county abruptly fired Dr. Robert Stoppacher, its former medical examiner, early this year without explanation. That left the office with only one forensic pathologist on staff who recently left. Since 2014 the office had been staffed by the chief medical examiner and anywhere from one to three pathologists. The ME’s office contracts with New York City pathologists to perform autopsies here. The county is spending about $111,000 a month on contract pathologists and is on track to spend nearly $1.4 million this year if it does not fill the vacancies.
- Medical examiner testifies in toddler death trial
- Prosecutor says marks on boy’s head show he was struck repeatedly by toy drumstick [Dr. Young: The subtitle of this article amply demonstrates the Sherlock Effect].
- HUDSON VALLEY MAN ACCUSED OF ABUSING 5-MONTH-OLD
- Dr. Young: Be wary of doctors who diagnose non-accidental head trauma in the intensive care unit.
- Can we trust forensic evidence?
- Can we trust forensic doctors, scientists and investigators who reason backward like Sherlock Holmes?
- State medical examiner’s office in danger of losing accreditation, records show
- The state’s chief medical examiner’s office is in danger of losing the accreditation it received just months ago, a potential black eye that its leader — fearful it could be made public — told officials should not be scrutinized by the media.
- Mother and her boyfriend sentenced to life in prison for killing 4-year-old Aniya Day-Garrett
- The Sherlock Effect runs amok in Cleveland, OH.
- Michael Rosfeld Trial: Medical Examiner’s Office Found Gunshot Residue On Antwon Rose’s Hand
- Dr. Young: A meaningless finding. Why did they even bother looking?
- Prosecutors: city man beat toddler to death
- Were there any witnesses to this assault?
- Medical examiner creates web portal to 22 years of death records
- “Our vision is to be a data-forward agency,” said Dr. Glenn Wagner, the county’s chief medical examiner. “The idea is to make the data available for the public, media, other departments or agencies that may have some overlap with segments of the people included in the report, and researchers who may be able to look at the data and provide insights back to the Department of the Medical Examiner.”
- Medical examiner testifies evidence of strangulation, assault may not have been evident on Yekel's remains
- CANTON -- A medical examiner testified Tuesday morning in the Christopher Hebert murder trial and said that Lacey Yekel's remains may not have shown evidence of beating or choking. Hebert, 47, is being tried in St. Lawrence County Court for second-degree murder for allegedly killing Yekel, who died at age 25 around June 7, 2014. Prosecutors say Hebert severely beat her and then choked her. Yekel's skeletal remains were recovered in woods near the Massena Industrial Park on Aug. 29, 2014. [Dr. Young: Another prosecutor theory bites the dust.]
- Amended autopsy report that led to Maine mistrial is being kept secret
- “There has to be some explanation,” Andrews said. “We can’t delay the demand for justice for defendants and for victims because of the whims of state actors. There might be an innocent explanation, but there still has to be one.”
- The Myth of Fingerprints
- Police today increasingly embrace DNA tests as the ultimate crime-fighting tool. They once felt the same way about fingerprinting.
- Medical examiner: Preliminary report suggests toddler died 'due to blunt force trauma'
- [Dr. Young: Why do ME's insist on issuing preliminary reports? Couldn't that be saying "too much, too soon, to the wrong people"?]
- Medical examiner report leads to manslaughter charges after a fistfight
- Kevin Bickford was killed by blunt force injuries to the head and neck during a fistfight with Anson Hurley in early November, the Medical Examiner’s Office reports. “During the altercation, the decedent was reportedly punched multiple times in the head region and became unresponsive,” Assistant Medical Examiner Michael Madsen wrote. The medical examiner’s findings helped the police investigation, which did not find enough evidence at the scene to warrant any homicide-related charges. [Dr. Young: A great example of the Sherlock Effect. Follow me on twitter and you will find out why.]
- Does a new genetic analysis finally reveal the identity of Jack the Ripper?
- [Dr. Young: You can read my comments about Jack the Ripper in my book, The Sherlock Effect. They still apply.]
- Kathleen Folbigg inquiry to consider fresh evidence in wrongful conviction case
- In his report accompanying the petition, Professor Cordner wrote that: "If the convictions in this case are to stand, I want to clearly state there is no pathological or medical basis for concluding homicide. "The findings are perfectly compatible with natural causes."
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