Chapter 8 - The real story of the U.S. medico-legal death investigation system

Abstract

There is no shortage of problems facing medicolegal death investigation. This chapter describes the current state of affairs in this field, with suggestions for reform to be explored. Detailing the system's shortcomings and making recommendations for change are not things borne of the last decade; these efforts date back to the beginning of the 21st century. Legal medicine is a distinct subdivision of medicine. The number of experts in medicolegal science is limited. Most of the experts in medicolegal science are found in the ranks of full-time medical examiners. Others who have become experts in this field have done so through the experience obtained as pathologists. From time to time, their services are utilized by the coroner's office, but usually under such conditions that true experts are not actually anxious to render the service that they are capable of rendering. The common ground of other forensic sciences is almost totally excluded from the academic process. Consequently, the potential for forensic scientific information to go unrecognized or to be misinterpreted, by both physicians and attorneys, poses a pervasive risk of the miscarriage of justice.