The Medical Detectives

The 'Acknowledgments' thank the doctors who helped the author. [Many names are known to readers of famous cases.] The 'Introduction' by Dr. Milton Helpern says deaths that are sudden, suspicious, violent, or unusual should be investigated by a qualified medico-legal agency (p.xiii). Autopsies are necessary even in the case of obvious causes (p.xiv). Obvious violent deaths and even natural deaths can be disproved by a careful complete autopsy. A homicide classified as a suicide can free a murderer. Suicides often create guilt in a family. A natural death should not be confused with suicide (insurance) or homicide (conviction of an innocent). Part I tells "What Medical Detectives Do". Chapter 1 lists the many facts found from a dead body; this is forensic medicine. They provide the information used by investigators to solve crimes. Chapter 2 has the classic case in forensic medicine. The sudden entrance of water into the nose and throat can cause shock and unconsciousness. Part II tells about "Clues from the Corpse". Chapter 3 explains how Paul Leland Kirk Ph.D. analyzed the blood spatter evidence in the Marilyn Sheppard murder to exonerate Dr. Sam. [A book said commercial rivalry led to framing Dr. Sam.] Chapter 4 lists how time of death is used to solve crimes. A coroner investigated a hit-and-run victim and found another victim of the Cincinnati strangler (Chapter 5). A burnt body was correctly identified as a murder victim (Chapter 6). Chapter 7 tells of the danger in eating somebody's left-overs. Part III tells of medical investigations into cases of suicide, paternity suits, rape, drugs, sexual asphyxia, and battered babies. [The development of DNA evidence after 1980 has made parts of this book obsolete.] Part IV has four cases of "The Medical Detectives". Some of the many cases of Dr. Milton Helpern are mentioned. [It doesn't tell how he was blacklisted by government agencies for criticizing the autopsy of JFK.] Some people in Los Angeles were getting away with murder before Dr. Thomas Noguchi became the coroner-medical examiner (Chapter 15). There was bitter rivalry against him. Los Angeles sees most violent deaths in December, unlike New York where that happens in summer. Dr. Cyril Wecht says many questions about the assassination of JFK remain unanswered, and many official "answers" remain unquestioned (Chapter 16). Dr. Wecht discovered that JFK's brain had disappeared. He criticized the Warren Commission, examined the autopsy records, and said it was a conspiracy. What really matters is the physical evidence. The doctors in Dallas said the massive head wound was from a bullet from the right. The first autopsy report (about the bullets) was destroyed (p.208)! Withholding or altering evidence has fostered theories of conspiracy. Chapter 17 is about the Attica Prison revolt and the efforts of Dr. John Edland. Dr. Edland found that all the guards were killed by their rescuers (p.217). The death of a famous person can create incredible pr