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(More customer reviews)Dr. Baden was the chief medical examiner of New York City from 1960 to 1985, and "Unnatural Death" is a fascinating look at some of the cases he investigated. Bronx-born and Brooklyn-bred, Dr. Baden doesn't shy away from a fight whether it was with the Mayor of New York City who fired him (Dr. Baden eventually sued Mayor Koch for wrongful dismissal and won his case) or the Warren Commission, which was charged with the investigation of President Kennedy's assassination.
Baden refers to himself as "a witness to the dead," and treats the bodies on his autopsy table with what can only be described as reverence. Forensic Pathology is both a fascinating profession and a sacred calling for him. During his forty-year career he has conducted more than 20,000 autopsies and has served as an expert witness on homicide cases that include Nicole Brown Simpson, the last alleged victim of Albert DeSalvo, "Sunny" von Bulow (included in this book), John Belushi (also in this book), and JonBenet Ramsey.
Also there are those wonderful political brawls, the foremost of which in "Unnatural Death" is Dr. Baden's tussle with various government officials involved in the investigation of the deaths during the Attica prison riot. In a way, I wish there was less politics and more science in this autobiography, but Dr. Baden correctly points out that reforming the 'politics of death' and raising the status of MEs is one of his most important goals.
This book also highlights cases and anecdotes where the emphasis is on detection and forensic science rather than politics. One of the most gruesome involved a New York City ME who kept a tray of feet that had been cut off at the ankles. He called it the 'Centipede' and used his display to convince the Federal Aviation Agency that airplane seats needed to be redesigned. People's feet were being cut off during airplane crashes by the bar under their seat that was supposed to keep suitcases from sliding backwards.
The seats were redesigned, thanks in part to the 'Centipede.'
One of the saddest, most inexplicable (in psychological terms, at least) cases in "Unnatural Death" is Dr. Baden's investigation of the deaths of Mary Beth and Joseph Tinning's nine children in upstate New York. One aspect of this case that is not widely known is Mary Beth's attempted poisoning of her husband (she was having an affair with a minister at the time). According to Dr. Baden, Joseph Tinning "did not feel that his marriage had been destroyed by this attempt to annihilate him." Nor, evidently by the deaths of his nine children.
Readers will definitely gain an appreciation of the value of forensic pathology from this book, which I believe was Dr. Baden's ultimate goal in writing it.
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