What does a medical examiner do? What is the responsibility of the Medicolegal Investigator? Do you know how to properly answer questions on a death certificate relating to cause of death v. mechanism.
Forensic Pathology and Death Investigation
This episode is an audio version of a presentation by Dr. Judy Melinek in March 2014. Dr. Melinek does an outstanding job of presenting the difference between ME/C, injury interpretation, and cause of death v mechanism of death. The full video presentation is below and is used with the permission of Dr. Judy Melinek.
Dr. Judy Melinek is President and CEO of PathologyExpert Inc., a consulting firm and educational resource center for forensic pathology. Dr. Melinek has subspecialty training in neuropathology and a special interest in wound interpretation, gunshot wound trajectory, medical malpractice, and wrongful death legal cases. Dr. Melinek is an American Board of Pathology board-certified forensic pathologist.
Dr. Judy Melinek is a forensic pathologist practicing forensic medicine in San Francisco and Alameda County, California, as well as an Associate Clinical Professor of Pathology at the UCSF Medical Center. She explores the differences between medical examiner and a coroner and looks at some real world cases. Warning: Some of the images are graphic. Recorded on 03/19/2014. Series: “UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine presents Mini Medical School for the Public” [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 27893]
Dr. Melinek is a American Board of Pathology board-certified forensic pathologist practicing forensic medicine in San Francisco, California, and CEO of PathologyExpert Inc.
Dr. Melinek trained in pathology at University of California, Los Angeles and then as a forensic pathologist at the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office from 2001-2003. She has consulted and testified in criminal and civil cases in Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington.
Dr. Melinek has been qualified as an expert witness in forensic pathology, neuropathology and wound interpretation. She has had subspecialty training in surgery and has published and consulted on cases of medical malpractice and therapeutic complications. She trains doctors and attorneys on forensic pathology, proper death reporting and certification. She has been invited to lecture at professional conferences on the subjects of death certification, complications of therapy, forensic toxicology and in-custody deaths. She has also published extensively in the peer-reviewed literature on subjects of surgical complications, death following gastric bypass, forensic toxicology, opioid overdose deaths, immunology, neuropathology and transplant surgery.
Past clients include the Santa Clara County District Attorney, Office of the County Counsel County of Contra Costa, Marin County Public Defender, the Court Appointed Attorney Program of the Alameda County Bar Association, the Attorney General of the State of California, the United States Military, and many private civil plaintiff’s and defense attorneys. Dr. Melinek travels locally in Northern California to testify in and around the Bay Area including San Mateo, Santa Clara, Marin, Monterey, Napa, Lake, Shasta, Solano, Sonoma and Stanislaus Counties. She has also been called to Southern California to review cases in Los Angeles, San Bernadino, Riverside, Ventura and San Diego Counties.