BiblioVault - Books about Forensic Medicine

Death Investigation in America

Coroners, Medical Examiners, and the Pursuit of Medical Certainty

Jeffrey M. Jentzen

Harvard University Press, 2009

A death occurs at home, in a hospital, on a street: why? As Jeffrey Jentzen reveals, we often never know. Why is the American system of death investigation so inconsistent and inadequate? What can the events of the assassination of President Kennedy, killing of Bobby Kennedy, and Chappaquiddick reveal about the state of death investigation?

If communities in early America had a coroner at all, he was politically appointed and poorly trained. As medicine became more sophisticated and the medical profession more confident, physicians struggled to establish a professionalized, physician-led system of death investigation. The conflict between them and the coroners, as well as politicians and law enforcement agencies, led to the patchwork of local laws and practices that persist to this day.

In this unique political and cultural history, Jentzen draws on archives, interviews, and his own career as a medical examiner to look at the way that a long-standing professional and political rivalry controls public medical knowledge and public health.

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Forensic Epidemiology

A Comprehensive Guide for Legal and Epidemiology Professionals

Sana Loue

Southern Illinois University Press, 1999

Sana Loue explores the concepts of legal and epidemiological causation, the use of epidemiological data based on populations to determine causation in an individual case, and the use of epidemiological evidence in litigation, including the reliance on experts and expert witnesses.

Loue provides a guide for the attorney with little or no background in epidemiological theory and for the epidemiologist contemplating a new role as an expert witness. She assumes of her readers a working knowledge of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Federal Rules of Evidence.

Discussing the epidemiologist as expert witness, Loue covers the nature of that testimony, the purpose of the testimony, and the qualifications necessary to be regarded as an expert witness. She examines various legal theories of causation, primarily in the context of product liability and toxic tort, and addresses epidemiological principles and methods used in the process of causal inference.

Loue also focuses on legal mechanisms used to assess causation. Her concern here is with depositions and testimony and the preparation of epidemiology experts. She concludes her study by comparing the legal and epidemiological concepts of causation, using actual legal cases as examples.

Throughout the text, Loue incorporates excerpts from depositions, interrogatories, and trial testimony to provide concrete examples. She also sets up an appendix to provide nonattorney readers with an overview of the legal system. Ultimately, her goal is to foster a greater understanding between law and epidemiology.

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Postmortem

How Medical Examiners Explain Suspicious Deaths

Stefan Timmermans

University of Chicago Press, 2006

As elected coroners came to be replaced by medical examiners with scientific training, the American public became fascinated with their work. From the grisly investigations showcased on highly rated television shows like C.S.I. to the bestselling mysteries that revolve around forensic science, medical examiners have never been so visible—or compelling. They, and they alone, solve the riddle of suspicious death and the existential questions that come with it. Why did someone die? Could it have been prevented? Should someone be held accountable? What are the implications of ruling a death a suicide, a homicide, or an accident? Can medical examiners unmask the perfect crime?

Postmortem goes deep inside the world of medical examiners to uncover the intricate web of pathological, social, legal, and moral issues in which they operate. Stefan Timmermans spent years in a medical examiner’s office, following cases, interviewing examiners, and watching autopsies. While he relates fascinating cases here, he is also more broadly interested in the cultural authority and responsibilities that come with being a medical examiner. Although these professionals attempt to remain objective, medical examiners are nonetheless responsible for evaluating subtle human intentions. Consequently, they may end—or start—criminal investigations, issue public health alerts, and even cause financial gain or harm to survivors. How medical examiners speak to the living on behalf of the dead, is Timmermans’s subject, revealed here in the day-to-day lives of the examiners themselves.

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The Washing Away of Wrongs

Forensic Medicine in Thirteenth-Century China

Sung Tz’u; Translated by Brian E. McKnight

University of Michigan Press, 1981

T'zu's The Washing Away of Wrongs (Hsi yüan chi lu), printed in 1247, is the oldest extant book on forensic medicine in the world. Written as a guide for magistrates in conducting inquests, the book is a major source on early Chinese knowledge of pathology and morbid anatomy. Includes a lengthy introductory essay by the translator.

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