9781422273470

when the ship landed in Canada and returned to England, where he was tried, convicted, and hanged for his wife’s murder. Spilsbury went on to testify in dozens of murder cases and was noted for his domineering demeanor in the courtroom. Another pathologist who gained fame, although for controversial reasons, was Dr. Jack Kevorkian, also called “Dr. Death.” Kevorkian wasn’t famous for his postmortem exams but for performing euthanasia, or assisted suicide, on terminally ill patients who he said requested him to help them die without pain. Dr. Kevorkian was eventually convicted of second-degree murder and served eight years in prison. Dr. Cyril Wecht often appears on television commenting on murder cases. He was the Allegheny County Coroner and Medical Examiner and former president of the American Academy of Forensic Science. He is best known for questioning the autopsy procedures after the death of President John F. Kennedy. Dr. Michael Baden is the host of the HBO show Autopsy and, like Dr. Wecht, often appears on television, including serving as the “Death Correspondent” for Fox News. Dr. Baden has written many articles and books on forensic pathology as well as forensic thrillers. He has provided expert testimony in cases surrounding famous assassinations, including those of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and President John F. Kennedy. He observed the 2019 autopsy of accused pedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein at the request of Epstein’s brother and disputed the official finding of the New York City chief medical examiner that the manner of Epstein’s death was suicide, concluding instead that it was homicide. Dr. Jan Garavaglia appeared in the Discovery Channel series Dr. G: Medical Examiner between 2004 and 2012, while she served as the chief medical examiner for Orlando, Florida. Dr. G earned a faithful audience for her fact-based, empathetic presentations of autopsies and communication with surviving family members. Her book How Not to Die: Surprising Lessons on Living Longer, Safer, and Healthier was a bestseller, and she has been named “America’s Favorite Medical Examiner.” Ethical and Legal Responsibilities Forensic pathologists and medical examiners work with bodies that were once living people. Even though the bodies are dead, these people and their surviving family members still have rights. Family members

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Pathology