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News Herald
Author supports Siebert’s findings
August 4, 2007
By David Angier
Doctor who wrote 4 books on
forensic pathology backs sickle-cell ruling By David Angier
PANAMA CITY
Dr. Vincent Di Maio, author of four
books on forensic pathology, said in a radio interview Friday that
he and most of his colleagues support Panama City Medical Examiner
Charles Siebert’s findings in the Martin Lee Anderson case.
Anderson, 14, died Jan. 6, 2006,
after collapsing during his first day at the Bay County Sheriff’s
Office Boot Camp. Drill instructors manhandled him to make him
comply with their orders to continue a run, but Anderson became
unresponsive and died about 14 hours later in a Pensacola hospital.
Siebert determined his death to be
from natural causes, complications of sickle cell trait. Tampa
Medical Examiner Vernard Adams did a second autopsy at then-Gov. Jeb
Bush’s direction and ruled that the guards suffocated Anderson with
a combination of manual occlusion of his mouth and forced inhalation
of ammonia fumes.
“I’m not saying Dr. Siebert or Dr.
Adams has done anything wrong,” Di Maio told Burnie Thompson of Talk
Radio 101 FM. “If you look at the scientific aspect of the case, Dr.
Siebert is ahead.”
Di Maio, a forensic pathologist in
San Antonio, said Adams is basing his findings on “speculation” and
not scientific fact. Di Maio said he researched the use of ammonia
capsules, “smelling salts,” back to the 1950s and couldn’t find an
incident of death from inhaling the fumes.
“There’s just no proof that they
cause laryngeal spasms,” Di Maio said.
Alternatively, he said, sickle cell
trait is a known cause of death and something he’s seen firsthand.
Di Maio said the type of physical
reaction Adams is referencing — where the throat closes up from
exposure to ammonia gas — happens when the concentration of fumes is
much higher, such as in industrial accidents.
“(Siebert) has an excellent
reputation, just like Dr. Adams does,” Di Maio said. “The problem
is, politics is getting involved in science here.”
A videotape of the encounter
between Anderson and the drill instructors was released shortly
after Anderson’s death. Di Maio said the images provoked a visceral
reaction in people.
“This is a complicated case and
everyone wants a simple answer, and they want to blame someone,” he
said.
Joseph Prahlow, National
Association of Medical Examiners president, said Friday the more
vocal members of the national society of forensic pathologists
support Siebert. He was careful to point out that the most vocal
didn’t necessarily represent the majority of members, and very few
have examined both autopsy reports.
Prahlow said consensus nationally,
however, is that Siebert is being singled out for political
purposes. He said that is disturbing.
“There is a great concern amongst
forensic pathologists when there is essentially a political hatchet
job occurring within a state government based on a medical opinion
brought forward by one of our colleagues,” Prahlow said. “When
political correctness seems to trump our individual evaluations of a
case and our ability to form an opinion about a case, that becomes a
concern to all of us that answer to a governmental agency in one
form or another.”
Prahlow said pathologists disagree
frequently in autopsies, but those differences are addressed and
resolved in the normal course of a criminal case or trial. He said
it’s also disturbing that Gov. Charlie Crist and a state board are
trying to remove Siebert from office for his findings.
“It appears that a politically
motivated decision is resulting in the removal of a forensic
pathologist based on the fact that his opinion didn’t sit well with
certain folk,” Prahlow said.
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