Ukiah Digby for Coroner Links

Last week, during our "Making of Ukiah Digby for Coroner" episode, we promised to link to some coroner scandals about illegal body trading and unethical use of cadavers. Then, after wrapping the show, we forgot about our vow. So, sorry about the delay. Illegal trade in bodies shakes loved ones, USA Today, 4/28/06 and make sure you while you're there you read the related story on Donated bodies sold for personal profit. The body snatchers about the convoluted supply chain for body parts. Some of this articles propose or imply that the real tragedy here is that it discourages donors or gives parts trading a bad name. We agree but suggest that one way to encourage better regulations might be to refuse to sign the donor card. Former Rock County Coroner Going To Jail: Woman Stole Drugs From Dead People is the story that inspired Robert to add "stealing drugs from corpses" to Umatilla Kenniwick's scandal list. There's lots of "leftover" drugs involved in a coroner's work and it seems that employees of coroners' offices sometimes can't resist the temptation but this is the only case I know of where the Coroner was directly responsible for drug theft. Wecht indicted by grand jury: Medical examiner accused of public use, private gain shows how a shrewd coroner, like any public official, can come up with ways to abuse their public trust for private gain. This one is from early 2006. It seems like whenever we search for this kind of stuff we come up with new ones. and check these out: Critics Say Coroner Puts His Morality Before the Facts on politicizing coroners reports is a case of truth being stranger than fiction. Robert had Digby talk about the dangers of falsifying coroners report in order to protect an interest group or corporate profits but we thought it was his over-the-top sense of humor. We never thought someone would actually think to do that. We hope this guy didn't get the idea from us. And if you still haven't had enough death industry scandal be sure to check out Forensic Science's Hall of Shame. image from Edit International