Thousands of times a year, forensic prosecutors in the Maryland Medical Examiner’s Office examine descriptions of the dead — and bodies — to answer one basic question: How did they die?
A new book to be released in February shows how the nation’s first centralized, statewide coroner’s office solicits information for families and prosecutors about homicides, overdoses, suicides and all other unexplained deaths.
It’s a tale of high-profile and controversial investigations, but also of a growing backlog of cases stemming from a rise in violence and substance use that has plagued the once-leading agency.
“OCME: Life in America’s Top Forensic Medical Center” is written by Bruce Goldfarb, a former EMT/paramedic and part-time reporter, who last year completed a decade as executive assistant to then-chief Dr. David Fowler. After leaving office.
Most of the controversial cases explored in the book received considerable media coverage. But Goldfarb, officially the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner’s public information officer, could not or would not provide details in real time. New Insights may interest “CSI”-devotees and anyone who knew someone who died a suspicious death.
Fowler is a main character in the book. He did not respond to a request for comment from the Baltimore Banner. However, in the book he is portrayed as a man who easily managed OCME’s controversies and crises until, like his office, he did.
The chief’s troubles began when Fowler testified as a witness in defense of Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer who was ultimately convicted of killing George Floyd.
Goldfarb wrote, “Like the rest of America, I watched the video of Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 45 seconds.” “Talking with others on the job, we were unable to ascertain what Fowler could possibly say in Chauvin’s defense.”
According to media accounts relayed in Goldfarb’s book, Fowler said at the 2021 trial that Floyd’s death was undetermined, caused by underlying heart disease, rather than homicide, that resulted in a fatal cardiac arrhythmia during his arrest. Carbon monoxide from Floyd’s drug use and the exhaust of a nearby car contributed, according to his book.
Goldfarb wrote that the OCME under Fowler had long relied on undeclared as a method of death, calling it “intellectually honest”. But here it was surprising, and in defiance of other experts.
Goldfarb wrote in the book, “The shock from Fowler’s testimony was swift and fierce.”
Some called the office racist. Officials called for a review of custodial deaths in 2019 until his retirement as chief, although Fowler did not personally perform autopsies or determine the manner of death. Brian Frosh, the then Attorney General of Maryland, tasked Goldfarb with cataloging the tens of thousands of possible cases. The total number of selected cases was 1,313.
Another controversy that Goldfarb writes about in the book involves the death of Baltimore police detective Sean Sutter, who was shot in the head with his own gun in an alleyway. Sutter died days before his federal grand jury testimony in a case involving the Gun Trace Task Force, a rogue police unit terrorizing the city.
Police initially said Sutter’s death was a suicide, but OCME determined it was a homicide. The Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office considers the case open.
Goldfarb wrote, “Nothing about the suitor’s death made sense, either as a homicide or a suicide.” If this was murder, why would an assailant’s plan include taking a police officer’s gun? If it was suicide, why wouldn’t the suitor have made a better scene?
The main villain in the book, however, was not the stuff of loathsome TV. Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, began slashing the state budget in 2014, and OCME never again kept pace with rising homicides and overdose cases, Goldfarb wrote.
However, budget documents show that the administration reversed course, adding a series of OCME positions, including 20 in the current fiscal year. But a national shortage of medical examiners and OCME’s increasingly bad reputation for excessive workload means a shortage of living bodies to examine the dead.
State health officials who oversee OCME staffing declined Banner’s request for comment on hiring or workload. Chase Cook, a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Health, said officials are preparing a report for the General Assembly.
Goldfarb wrote that 18,000 autopsies were to be performed by the office in 2021, an 80% increase from a decade earlier, of which a third required full autopsies. Nevertheless, an 84-person staff was reduced to 63. By mid-2022, OCME had seven examiners, although there should have been 26.
A state budget document for the current fiscal year ending June 30 shows health officials anticipate the number of examiners will drop from a high of 20 to four in 2019, to handle 1,588 autopsies each year. For this the examiners will be left out.
The number is surprising given the standard of 250 autopsies set by the National Association of Medical Examiners. OCME was close to losing accreditation.
The backlog of bodies posed emotional and practical difficulties for families and challenges for prosecutors, Goldfarb wrote, adding the loss of accreditation would send an even tougher message: “More than a decorative ribbon, accreditation is an endorsement of competence.”
It is unclear how the office will replace the examiners. The chief who replaced Fowler, Dr. Victor Weeden resigned in February 2022, just one year into the job. The OCME website lists staff including an interim chief, two deputies and 10 examiners, though it is unclear how many will remain on the job.
OCME relies on contractors to help meet the needs of the office, paying up to $850 per autopsy. In March, the Federal Emergency Management Agency dispatched volunteer testers normally deployed after natural disasters. FEMA cleared an unprecedented 240 bodies into OCME freezers, as well as a temporary morgue in a downtown Baltimore parking garage initially opened to handle COVID-19 cases.
Dale Kirill Reznik, a Montgomery County Democrat who last year introduced a bill requiring adequate OCME staffing, told The Banner it was a disappointing turn for an office that was once a national model. He said the incoming Democratic administration of elected Gov. Wes Moore would have to quickly address the problems.
“Last year, the office had to turn to FEMA for help,” he said. “It was a disaster and shameful, and it’s something that needs to be addressed. … The medical examiner’s office is not typically an office that new administrations spend a lot of time thinking about, but the job There will be sudden pressure to keep up.
Goldfarb told The Banner that he wanted to write the book to highlight OCME’s contributions to forensic medicine, as well as show true-crime followers how things are really done. But that was not the end of the story.
“Someone needs to sound the alarm,” he said. “Most people are lucky and never interact with the office. But others are waiting and waiting for the results.
In an epilogue, Goldfarb was unsure what lay ahead in an office that was the “gold standard” for the field.
Source – thebaltimorebanner