Sunday, December 25, 2011

Aw geeze

A murder Christmas Eve brings the toll to 195. A moment of thanks and appreciation to the dedicated and selfless officers, EMTS, firefighters and medical examiners who work on Christmas.

5 comments:

ppatin said...

I know I'm being nitpicky but there are no coroners in Maryland. Autopsies are performed by the Medical Examiner's office.

ppatin said...

MJ:

I finally got around to reading Gang Leader for a Day over Christmas. Very interesting book, thanks for recommending it.

Another interesting read that you might want to add to your widget is a book called Courtroom 302. I disagreed with a lot of the author's editorial commentary, but it was still fascinating and very well researched. It was also nice to learn that there are cities in the US more screwed up than Baltimore!

Maurice Bradbury said...

Not nitpicky at all, you're right! .. I'll look up that book, I always like a little nonfiction.

Cham said...

I know that the examinations of the dead in Baltimore back in the 1800s was done by a "coroner" who had a facility in the 900 block of South Bond Street, which may have been on or near the Bond Street wharf. The location was handy because so many people were found dead in the water back then. I have no idea when the coroner position was upgraded to a "Medical Examiner".

ppatin said...

Cham:

The Office of Chief Medical Examiner oversees a network of local deputy medical examiners and forensic investigators who investigate violent and suspicious deaths, and deaths unattended by physicians. These duties had been the responsibility first of local sheriffs, and then of local coroners from 1666 to the end of the nineteenth century. Then, they were assumed by justices of the peace. In 1939, these functions were assigned to deputy medical examiners (Chapter 369, Acts of 1939).