Unusual and Final Trip

Dr. Vernard Adams is a Chief Medical Examiner for Hillsborough County. His twenty years of experience and ironic character talks to a great extend for his professionalism.
http://www.hillsboroughcounty.org/medexam/about/director.cfm
At first I was confused between coroner and medical examiner because they both investigate death scene.

Dr. Adams referred us to Florida Statute 406.11 in order to understand the specific control of the Medical Examiner in response to a death occurred in his district or where the body was found to determine the cause of death when a person dies from the following:
- Criminal Violence
- Accident, suicide or poison
- Suddenly, when in apparent good health
- Unattended by a practicing physician or other recognized practitioner
- In any prison or penal institution
- In any suspicious or unusual circumstances
- By criminal Abortion
- By disease constituting a threat to public heath
- By disease, injury, or toxic agent resulting from employment
In continuation to the said above, the Medical Examiner is free to perform autopsies and other laboratory examinations, which will further explain the unknown to the public.

Six medical examiners and six autopsy physicians are available for Dr. Adams when they need to perform their forensic investigation in death scenes. Due to budget cuts the Medical Examiner’s Office stopped their overnight investigations.

Chapter 406.02 says that the Medical Examiner Office need dispose, cremate, and donate all unclaimed bodies. Tissues and organs
donating is done every day with the help of Live-link Donors.

In the second part of our visit Dr. Adams took us around the Medical Examiner’s facilities to show us all the documents and procedures done by his staff.

Each investigation case has a file that contains vital information for the public, next of kin, attorneys, and the investigators. You might think that death certificates are not public record, and you are right, but only for the medical part of it. Any undergoing investigation results, HIV test, hospital records, and autopsy pictures and videos are not public record. Rather than that the general autopsy report is public record, as well as examiners findings, supporting evidence, and attorney correspondence. An interesting fact about obtaining public records from the Medical Examiner’s office was that they don’t charge the regular fee of 15 cents a page. They ask for 2 stamps, an envelope, and a written request of what documents you want and they will send it to you for free.

To top of our visit, Dr. Adams took us trough the toxicology laboratories where we met Chief Forensic Toxicologist Dr. Pearson. There we saw the machines that analyses the blood and tissues for alcohol and drugs elements.

Just across the extraction laboratory we enter the autopsy lab where the autopsy medical personnel were working on three current cases. As soon as we cross the door we saw a death body. I just hope that I would never go back there for any type of info. I wonder how those people decide to work at the autopsy lab??????????