Forensics Ii

Harry A. Milman PhD

Description

George Washington, the former first president of the United States, lay in his bed suffering from a high fever, a raw throat, and labored breathing. His three physicians milled around his bed, treating Washington with blisters of cantharides, tartar emetic, and bloodletting, removing nearly 40 percent of his total blood volume and causing excruciating pain. When Washington finally was relieved of his misery and died, the three doctors could not agree what caused his death.
Forensics II: The Science Behind the Deaths of Famous and Infamous People reads like a mystery novel, presenting biographical and scientific information that helps readers understand how medical examiners-coroners utilized forensic analysis to determine the causes and manners of death of thirty-six famous and infamous people, including Napoleon Bonaparte, a French military leader and politician; Charles Whitman, the University of Texas tower shooter; Bruce Lee, an actor and martial artist; Kurt Cobain, the lead singer of Nirvana; Jim Jones, a key figure in the Jonestown massacre; Aretha Franklin, a singer-songwriter; Alexander Litvinenko, a former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service; Jeffrey Epstein, a financier and convicted sex offender; and many more. The book is based on a review of publicly available autopsy and toxicology reports, published lay articles, and the scientific literature. Of the deaths reviewed, 39 percent were due to natural causes, 19 percent were accidental, and 6 (17 percent) were suicides. The remaining deaths comprise three cases each of homicide and justifiable homicide by police, one case of court-mandated execution, and three cases in which the manner of death was undetermined.

Sujets

• Forensic Medicine
• Medical
• Médecine

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris US
• Date de parution: 24 juillet 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669834328
• Langue: English

Extrait

Books by Harry A. Milman, PhD
A Death at Camp David
Soyuz: The Final Flight
Forensics: The Science Behind the Deaths of Famous People
FORENSICS II
 
 
The Science Behind the Deaths of Famous and Infamous People
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
HARRY A. MILMAN, PHD
 
Copyright © 2022 by Harry A. Milman, PhD.
 
Library of Congress Control Number:
2020919977
ISBN:
Hardcover
978-1-6698-3434-2

Softcover
978-1-6698-3433-5

eBook
978-1-6698-3432-8
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
 
Rev. date: 07/21/2022
 
 
 
Xlibris
844-714-8691
www.Xlibris.com
840094
CONTENTS
Introduction
Chapter 1     George Washington
President of the United States
Chapter 2     Napoleon Bonaparte
French Military Leader and Politician
Chapter 3     Grigori Rasputin
Russian Mystic
Chapter 4     Umberto “Albert” Anastasia
Boss of the Anastasia Crime Family
Chapter 5     Charles Whitman
The University of Texas Tower Shooter
Chapter 6     Brian Jones
Member of the Rolling Stones
Chapter 7     Sonny Liston
Former Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World
Chapter 8     Bruce Lee
Actor and Martial Artist
Chapter 9     Jim Jones
Key Figure in the Jonestown Massacre
Chapter 10   David Koresh
Key Figure in the Waco Siege
Chapter 11   Vince Foster
Deputy White House Counsel
Chapter 12   John Candy
Actor-Comedian
Chapter 13   Kurt Cobain
Member of Nirvana
Chapter 14   Jerry Garcia
Member of the Grateful Dead
Chapter 15   Mickey Mantle
Professional Baseball Player
Chapter 16   Marshall Applewhite
Key Figure in the Heaven’s Gate Mass Suicide
Chapter 17   Chris Farley
Actor-Comedian
Chapter 18   Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold
The Columbine High School Massacre Shooters
Chapter 19   Timothy McVeigh
The Oklahoma City Bomber
Chapter 20   George Harrison
Member of the Beatles
Chapter 21   Dee Dee Ramone
Member of the Ramones
Chapter 22   Maurice Gibb
Member of the Bee Gees
Chapter 23   John Ritter
Actor in Three’s Company
Chapter 24   Bobby Hatfield
Member of the Righteous Brothers
Chapter 25   Johnny Carson
Host of The Tonight Show
Chapter 26   Ken Lay
Former CEO of Enron
Chapter 27   Alexander Litvinenko
Former Officer of the Russian Federal Security Service
Chapter 28   Evel Knievel
Stunt Performer
Chapter 29   Dawn Brancheau
SeaWorld Trainer
Chapter 30   Andrew Breitbart
Conservative Journalist
Chapter 31   Tamerlan Tsarnaev
One of the Boston Marathon Bombers
Chapter 32   Tom Petty
Member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Chapter 33   Anthony Bourdain
Celebrity Chef
Chapter 34   Aretha Franklin
Singer-Songwriter
Chapter 35   Jeffrey Epstein
Financier and Convicted Sex Offender
Chapter 36   Naya Rivera
Actor in Glee
Chapter 37   Conclusions
 
Formulary
Glossary
Notes
INTRODUCTION
EDMOND LOCARD’S EXCHANGE principle, proposed in the early nineteenth century, stated, “It is impossible for a criminal to act, considering the intensity of the crime, without leaving a trace.” 1 Thus, trace evidence, no matter how infinitesimal, tells a story that could be helpful in a crime investigation. 2
Forensics is a scientific tool that helps identify and evaluate evidence in support of criminal and civil investigations. Forensic toxicology, a subset of toxicology, a branch of chemistry, includes the detection and quantification of chemicals and drugs in biological fluids and tissues, and an understanding of the mechanism of toxicity—how toxic substances, sometimes referred to as poisons, affect people.
Since poisons must enter the bloodstream before they can exert their toxic effects, forensic toxicologists employ scientific principles dealing with absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination to determine the harmful effects caused by drugs and chemical toxicants. 3 The most common analytical techniques to detect poisons in bodily fluids are immunoassays using antibody reactions. These screening methods are fast, but they do not quantify and are subject to false-positive and false-negative results. 4 Any presumptive positive finding in a screening test must be verified by a second confirmatory test that not only identifies and quantifies but also is specific for the presumed substance. 5 Unlike immunoassays, confirmatory tests take longer, are more expensive, and require specialized equipment, such as gas chromatography and mass spectrometry.
Blood is the biological specimen of choice to establish whether a drug has caused impairment or death. 6 Urine is the biological fluid most often examined during random drug testing in the workplace. However, while a positive result in a urine test indicates prior drug use, it does not correlate with impairment at the time of sampling. 7
In postmortem forensic investigations, blood, urine, and tissue specimens are collected at the autopsy and then analyzed by forensic toxicologists. 8 Results obtained using postmortem blood, however, may be difficult to interpret, as postmortem redistribution, a time during which the concentration of a drug in blood could rise, sometimes by as much as threefold, may have taken place. 9
After the toxicology tests are completed, forensic toxicologists evaluate their findings and provide a scientific, fact-based explanation of how a chemical, drug, injury, or disease caused death. Manner of death, of which there are five categories—natural, accident, suicide, homicide, and undetermined—is a medicolegal opinion provided by a medical examiner-coroner based on a review of the forensic findings, as well as the circumstances surrounding the death and other relevant information, such as police reports and medical history.
Occasionally the public disagrees with the coroner’s conclusions, suggesting, for example, that Marilyn Monroe’s death was a homicide and not a suicide. As can be seen in this example, the disagreement is nearly always regarding the manner of death; rarely, if ever, is it about cause of death, which in the Marilyn Monroe example was generalized depression of nerve activity in the brain, a drop in blood pressure (hypotension), depression of heart muscle contractility, and respiratory arrest due to an overdose of chloral hydrate and pentobarbital, two sedative and hypnotic medications. 10 This is because when determining manner of death, different opinions can arise if they are based on incomplete information, intuition, suspicion, or inadequate or incomplete understanding or appreciation of the forensic evidence, unlike cause of death, which is an objective determination based on scientifically proven facts.
As a PhD pharmacologist and toxicologist with substantial experience reviewing medical records, autopsy and toxicology reports, and the scientific literature, I have assisted in more than 350 civil, criminal, and high-profile cases and have provided expert testimony at trials and depositions. In the first book in this series— Forensics: The Science Behind the Deaths of Famous People— I researched the deaths of twenty-three famous people in the entertainment industry. 11 In the current sequel, I investigated the deaths of thirty-six famous and infamous people in a variety of occupations. In the course of determining the immediate cause and manner of death, I reviewed the circumstances surrounding the deaths, as well as publically available autopsy findings, toxicology testing results, death certificates, published lay articles, and the scientific literature. To assist the reader, I have included a formulary of medications and a glossary of medical terms mentioned in the book, as well as notes citing appropriate references.
Forensics II: The Science Behind the Deaths of Famous and Infamous People is not a textbook or an exposé of never-before-described salacious revelations about famous and infamous people. It is not even a platform for undermining the conclusions reached by medical examiners-coroners. On the contrary, the book reads like a mystery novel, presenting biographical and scientific information that helps readers understand how medical examiners-coroners utilized forensic analysis to determine the causes and manners of death of thirty-six famous and infamous people.
CHAPTER 1 George Washington
Died December 14, 1799
President of the United States
WITH THE TEMPERATURE hovering close to thirty degrees Fahrenheit, Mount Vernon in Fairfax County, Virginia, was cold and blustery on Thursday morning, December 12, 1799, with light snow, hail, frigid rain, and sleet. 1 Nonetheless, as was his usual practice at about ten o’clock every morning, George Washington, the now retired first president of the United States, went riding for several hours on his plantation, supervising activities on his vast estate. 2
Washington’s two terms as presid