The Coroner Series
Page 40
That is my theory. And I only wish London’s two greatest detectives, Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot, were real and alive to solve this extraordinary death which seems to resist explanation either as a murder or as a suicide.
Was it witchcraft on the Thames? One doubts the theory as being too fantastic, but my own belief in the high-tide factor as a possible clue caused me to be somewhat chilled when I was told that part of the secret P-2 ritual oath includes the threat of death for traitors in “the ebb and flow of the tides.”
Afterword
Although my career as Chief Medical Examiner of Los Angeles County was abruptly terminated and I now work at Los Angeles County General Hospital as a pathologist and teacher, I no longer feel that I am in exile. I have made many new friends, I like my work, and I enjoy my relationships with my professional colleagues. Indeed, I am fortunate to be part of a lively institution devoted to the healing arts.
But my main passion is, and always will be, forensic science, that misunderstood, almost hidden field of medicine which seems to emerge into the light of public awareness only when one or another medical examiner, in one or another city, is fired.
Recently, I received a telephone call from my friend Bill Eckert, the forensic pathologist whose organization, INFORM, in Wichita, Kansas, serves as a central clearinghouse and historical library for forensic scientists around the world. “Isn’t it something?” he said. “It seems that sooner or later every coroner finds himself in terrible trouble.”
Why is that? I asked myself after his call. Are the physicians who hold jobs as medical examiners deficient in skills? I doubt it. Are they all bad managers? I doubt that too. I believe the explanation arises from two deeper sources: a lack of understanding of the mission of the medical examiner’s office, and, worse, an unspoken fear of anything associated with death. The mere rumor of wrongful practices in a department which deals with the dead strikes a raw nerve.
The fact is that medical examiners are torn and buffeted by pressure groups on every side. The law wants evidence to find and convict murderers; defendants demand evidence to prove their innocence. Families of victims of alleged police brutality seek justice, as do the police officers accused of the crimes. Relatives with estates or insurance money at stake desire judgments that will aid their cases. Friends of the deceased want reputations kept whole by suppressing evidence. And other pressures too numerous to detail are present every day.
What guide do we medical examiners have to make our way through these explosive minefields? The principle is simple. You must state the truth bravely, no matter how the evidence bothers, dismays or angers various pressure groups. But that, I know from my own experience, can prove costly. I believe that my dismissal came about as the result of my decision to tell the facts about the role that alcohol played in the deaths of Natalie Wood and William Holden. I do not regret that decision, for today I am more certain than ever that our field of medicine must be dedicated to aiding the living by learning from the dead. It is a conviction I have tried to express in a haiku.
The real contribution of forensic medicine is to protect and save valuable human lives.
I hope that I have, in the cases reported in this book, made a contribution of my own to the understanding of the mission of forensic science and some of its techniques and methods. And I hope something more: that the book may encourage others to choose our science as their career. If more and more of our brilliant young medical students enter the profession of forensic science, the loss of my own job will turn out to be a blessing, for it gave me the inspiration to write this book.
Meanwhile, I intend to continue my legal battle to regain my office, and to serve my profession as best I know how in all the years of my life.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank all my forensic colleagues in America and in Europe, who assisted me, directly or indirectly, in the research for this book, and in particular these forensic experts and lawyers:
William Eckert, M.D., Professor Herbert MacDonell, Thomas Puccio, J.D., Francis Buck, M.D., Clive Taylor, M.D., Ph.D., Keith P. Inman, Herbert Fisher, J.D., Michael Russakow, J.D., Robert E. Litman, M.D., John Thornton, Doctor of Criminology, U.S.C., Lester Luntz, D.D.S., David Paul, M.D.
My thanks also to my researchers: Valerie Ulam, Janice Roehl, Jacqueline Riley, Karen Emmons, Ann Lakos, Sylvia Kutz, Lori Andiman.
And special gratitude to our editors, Burton Beals and Fred Hills, and to our literary agents, Arthur and Richard Pine.
About the Authors
Thomas Noguchi was born in Japan and came to the United States in 1952 to complete his residency in pathology at Orange County General Hospital in California. In 1960 he joined the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office as deputy medical examiner, and subsequently was appointed chief medical examiner. After he left that post in a storm of controversy, his colleagues elected him president of the National Association of Medical Examiners.
Joseph DiMona has been called by the New York Times “an example of the successful collaborator whose own name may be as recognizable as the subject’s.” In addition to his collaborations with controversial figures such as H. R. Halderman (The Ends of Power) and Dr. Noguchi (Coroner), he has written bestselling novels, including Last Man at Arlington and To the Eagle’s Nest.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
Coroner copyright © 1983 by Thomas T. Noguchi, MD and Joseph DiMona
Coroner at Large copyright © 1985 by Thomas T. Noguchi, MD and Joseph DiMona
Cover design by Amanda Shaffer
ISBN: 978-1-5040-4967-2
This edition published in 2017 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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New York, NY 10038
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THOMAS T. NOGUCHI
WITH JOSEPH DIMONA
FROM OPEN ROAD MEDIA
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