DEATH INVESTIGATION IN AMERICA; FRONTLINE; TUESDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2011; A BLUNT, DISTURBING PERSPECTIVE; LOOKS TO BE OF INTEREST TO OUR READERS;

"Every day, nearly 7,000 people die in America. And when these deaths happen suddenly, or under suspicious circumstances, we assume there will be a thorough investigation, just like we see on CSI. But the reality is very different. In over 1,300 counties across America, elected coroners, many with no medical or scientific background, are in charge of death investigations. Nationwide there is a severe shortage of competent forensic pathologists to do autopsies. The rate of autopsies - the gold standard of death investigation - has plummeted over the decades. As a result, murderers go free and innocent people go to jail. FRONTLINE correspondent Lowell Bergman reports the results of a joint investigation with ProPublica, NPR, and the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley."

FROM PROMO FOR UPCOMING FRONTLINE, PROPUBLICA AND NPR PRODUCTION;

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"Popular television shows portray death investigators as high-tech sleuths wielding the most sophisticated tools of 21st century science," a press release for the production, set to run at 9.00 PM February 1, 2011 begins.

"An unprecedented collaborative investigation by FRONTLINE, ProPublica and NPR found a very different reality: A dysfunctional system in which there are few standards, little oversight, and the mistakes are literally buried," the release continues.

"In state after state, reporters found autopsies—our final physical exam—conducted by doctors who lacked certification and training. An increasing number of the 2.5 million Americans who die each year go to the grave without being examined at all.

Post Mortem, airing Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2011, at 9 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings), shows that errors by coroners and forensic pathologists have allowed potentially guilty perpetrators to go free and the innocent to be accused of crimes they did not commit.

The FRONTLINE documentary is the fruit of a collaborative reporting effort that will appear on the Web, on radio and on broadcast television. NPR and ProPublica will simultaneously report on Post Mortem beginning Feb. 1, with a multi-part series on Morning Edition, All Things Considered and NPR.org, and detailed reporting at ProPublica.org.

"There are people out there trying to carry out death investigations and they're trying to do them the best they can, but they don't have the training, they don't have the money, they don't have the infrastructure and they don't have the skill," retired Virginia state Medical Examiner Dr. Marcella Fierro tells FRONTLINE. Fierro, said to be the model for Kay Scarpetta in Patricia Cornwell's bestselling mystery series, adds, "Lots of very bad things happen if death investigation is not carried out competently."

In Northern California, FRONTLINE correspondent Lowell Bergman encounters Dr. Thomas Gill, a forensic pathologist, who has left a trail of scandals in his wake. "He had been arrested and charged with drunk driving on his way to work early in the morning. He was giving crazy answers about how he thought people died," private investigator Chris Reynolds tells Bergman about Dr. Gill's past.

In one murder case, the prosecution was so worried about Gill's testimony that it secretly coached him and videotaped the sessions. When the tapes were exposed, the prosecutor was suspended for practicing law for four years. But because of the lack of oversight for death investigators, Dr. Gill has been able to find a series of posts in the field.

In New Orleans, reporters for FRONTLINE, ProPublica and NPR meet Coroner Frank Minyard, who has been elected to the post 10 times and has the power to classify whether or not a death is a homicide, though he is a gynecologist by training. The investigation finds evidence that Coroner Minyard and his staff mishandled autopsies of people who died in the custody of law enforcement officers. Their conclusions had the effect of clearing officers of wrongdoing, but in case after case, independent forensic pathologists have challenged their findings. Mike Miceli, the father of one alleged victim, tells correspondent Bergman: "They find what the sheriff or the police department want them to find."

In Los Angeles, Post Mortem reveals that it is the vulnerable—the sick, the young, the elderly—who suffer most from our dysfunctional system of death investigation. Chief Death Investigator Craig Harvey tells FRONTLINE that because he doesn't have enough staff to check out all the deaths he would like to, "the possibility that a homicide's going to be missed are pretty great." The reporting reveals how a caregiver at a high-end nursing home beat 80-year-old resident Elmore Kittower, breaking 29 of his ribs and smashing his toes and larynx. But when Kittower died, his death certificate stated that he'd died of "natural causes." Only because of an anonymous tip days after his death was Kittower's body exhumed and the caregiver sentenced to life in prison.

In addition to Lowell Bergman, lead reporters include ProPublica's A.C. Thompson and Mosi Secret; NPR's Sandra Bartlett; Ryan Gabrielson of the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley; and Arun Rath for FRONTLINE. Further reports will examine other aspects of the role of science in law enforcement.

Post Mortem is a case study for the UC Berkeley Investigative Reporting Program's "Collective Work," an innovative project funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to help identify best practices for the evolving realm of multiplatform, collaborative investigative reporting. "The nation's best investigative reporting is remaking itself for the digital age," said Eric Newton, Knight Foundation journalism program vice president. "This project demonstrates the importance of collaboration as a new standard. Working together, traditional media, new news organizations and journalism educators are achieving much more than they could working alone."

Post Mortem is a FRONTLINE production with Cam Bay Productions in partnership with ProPublica and NPR. The correspondent is Lowell Bergman. The lead reporters for ProPublica are A.C. Thompson and Mosi Secret. The lead reporter for NPR is Sandra Bartlett. The film is written and produced by Carl Byker and Lowell Bergman. Post Mortem is part of an ongoing look at coroners and medical examiners on multiple platforms with simultaneous reports to appear at ProPublica.org, on air at NPR and online at NPR.org.

FRONTLINE is produced by WGBH Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Major funding for FRONTLINE is provided by The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and by Reva and David Logan. Additional funding is provided by the Park Foundation and by the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund. FRONTLINE is closed-captioned for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers by the Media Access Group at WGBH. FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of the WGBH Educational Foundation. The series senior producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath. The executive producer of FRONTLINE is David Fanning.

ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. In 2010, it became the first online news organization to win a Pulitzer Prize. With the largest news staff in American journalism devoted solely to investigative reporting, ProPublica is supported by philanthropy and provides the articles it produces, free of charge, both through its own website and to leading news organizations selected with an eye toward maximizing the impact of each article. For more information, please visit www.ProPublica.org.

NPR is an award-winning, multimedia news organization and an influential force in American life. In collaboration with more than 900 independent public radio stations nationwide, NPR strives to create a more informed public—one challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding and appreciation of events, ideas and cultures. The NPR News Investigative Unit crosses all news desks and programs to build upon, and strengthen the commitment to, NPR's established investigative work. The team has been reporting extensively on traumatic brain injury and the military; mine safety in America, following the explosion at Upper Big Branch in West Virginia; and how prison economics influenced Arizona's immigration law. NPR reaches a growing audience of more than 27 million listeners weekly; to find local stations and broadcast times for NPR programs, visit www.npr.org;"

The release can be found at:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/post-mortem/?utm_campaign=Feed%3A+pbs%2FKfWO+%28FRONTLINE+-+Reports+|+PBS%29&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=feedburner

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be accessed at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

For a breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies this Blog is currently following, please turn to:

http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=120008354894645705&postID=8369513443994476774

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;