An Investigation Into How Deaths in America Are Examined – ProPublica

On Feb. 1, 2011, ProPublica, FRONTLINE and NPR will begin airing and publishing the results of a year-long investigation into the dysfunctional system that determines how Americans die titled \”Post Mortem.\” The newsrooms found a system in which there are few standards, little oversight, and the mistakes are literally buried. In state after state, reporters found autopsies conducted by doctors who lacked certification and training. Ultimately, the errors made 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.