Page 4B/The BattalionAVednesday, August 28,1985 Examiner’s job often tricky By GIGI SHAMSY Reporter In 1981, the unexpected hap pened at the Bexar County medical examiner's office. Dr. Vincent DiMaio, chief medical examiner for San Antonio and its surrounding towns, received a tele phone call from someone who had questions about the death of a family member—a death that occurred one year earlier. The victim was a 70-year-old man with a history of heart ailments who was found dead at his home. Shortly after the time of death, the medical examiner who pre- ceeded DiMaio ran a few laboratory tests and labeled the case a natural death — no questions asked. One year later, DiMaio faced a critical question as to the cause of the victim’s death. He immediately ordered an exhu mation of the body and ran lab tests to determine the amount of carbon monoxide in the blood. “I found a 70 percent carbon monoxide level in the victim’s blood,” DiMaio said. “This indicated a fatal level of barbiturate in the blood. I signed out the cause of death as ‘aqute barbiturate overdo se’.” Because of the nationwide short age of qualified pathologists who in vestigate deaths, horror stories are common about autopsies that should have been conducted or autopsies that were misconducted. A successful autopsy involves col laboration between the coroner or justice of the peace (neither requir ing a medical degree), the medical examiner (a licensed pathologist spe cially trained in forensic pathology) and law enforcement officials. The autopsy must be conducted and reported in an organized man ner to find the cause of death and to avoid future legal stipulations, says Dr. Charles Petty, Dallas County’s Chief Medical Examiner. At the Institute of Forensic Sci ences in Dallas, Petty has a library of films and videos which he uses to train personnel who investigate deaths or assist in autopsies. Petty summed up the major ac complishments of a thorough au topsy: • a complete investigation of the body. • a complete record of finger prints and photographs for proper identification of the body. • a thorough examination of the body’s external surfaces, such as clothing. • a record of information for the court of law'. • a diagram drawn of the body’s components and its wounds. • a tape-recorded analysis of the pathologist’s observations and pro cedures. In the tape recording, Petty said, the medical examiner integrates his findings with the findings of the sci entist who examines the body. “Ultimately, the autopsy provides insight on how and why the death took place as well as giving adequate details to investigating law enforce ment officials and to the courts of law.” Petty said that, because of case overload common to medical exam iner systems, the employees at the Institute of Forensic Sciences can only afford to conduct autopsies if extenuating circumstances arise. Last year, Petty and his staff ac cepted 4,000 cases for autopsy out of 8,500 reported deaths in Dallas County. Smaller counties, like Brazos County, have fewer deaths and a smaller number of homicides, sui cides and “unnatural” deaths. Dr. J.C. Lee is the pathologist re sponsible for autopsies in Brazos County. He, too, says he feels that a good working relationship between the coroner and the investigating officer is essential to a death investigation. “My first case in Brazos County involved the death of an A&M pro fessor who was supposedly shot by an A&M student,” Lee said. “I quickly learned how important it was to work as a team with the police and detectives. I also learned that I would be called on to testify about my findings (from the autopsy) in court.” If Dr. Lee is not at St. Joseph Hos pital conducting an autopsy or run ning a lab analysis, you can most likely find him working at his private pathological practice in Bryan. Lee said that much to his dismay, he has appeared in court to present autopsy findings and to testify as an “expert witness.” “The question always comes up in court ‘Are you a forensic patholog ist?’ and I explain about tbe exper tise I have gained after doing autop sies, working in the investigation and presenting it to the court,” Lee said. Lee says that testifying in court as an “expert witness” is the least favor able aspect of his job. Lt. Irvin Todd of the College Sta tion Police Department says the Bra zos County law enforcement officials have a strong working relationship with Dr. Lee and with the county jus tices of the peace. “We treat every scene involving a dead body as if it were a homicide,” Todd said. Texas fireman cooks nea anything for his colleagues PS Associated Press “Roughly, College Station has about one homicide per year,” Todd said. “We investigate more than just homicides. We investigate all assaults and threats, too, by going out and to tally processing every crime scene with photographs and investigating all evidence and charting all infor mation. So justices of the peace and medi cal examiners alike sometimes find themselves tangled in a web of ethi cal questions concerning proper death investigations and presenta tion in court. Being the “expert” is just part of the job for most coroners and medi cal examiners. Dr. Flvin Smith, a Texas A&M Medical School pathology professor and former Galveston County medi cal examines, admits that mistakes in death investigations are made. “I’ve seen situations where, after the medical examiner presented the findings of his investigation in court,” Smith said, “the jury doubts that someone has died. “The autopsies get done — some times less than well. But they get do ne.” BEAUMONT — Although the menu may initially alarm a cau tious eater, members of the Beau mont Fire Department say they never go away hungry when Rex Hoffpauir puts on his starched chef s hat. Whatever members of the de partment bring in, Hoffpauir cooks. The fare was barbecued raccoon one month. Another time, it was fried alligator tail. Once, Hoffpauir fixed armadillo, baked in onions. On other occasions, the spe cialty has been baked dove, ve : - son gumbo, catfish or just beans. Although the menu may not al ways sound appetizing, Fire Chief Pete Shelton and department spokesman Tommy May said they have never tasted any of Hoffpauir’s specialties they didn’t like. “1 use a dash of this and some of this,” Hoffpauir says. “I never measure anything.” At 47, he has been cooking for fun since he was about 10. A fire lighter of 17 years, he now dou bles as the department cook and supply officer. His gumbo won first place in the 1981 Interna tional Gumbo Cookoff in Orange, but he said he doesn’t have the time to enter contests anymore. Two years ago, Hoffpauir made his famous gumbo for 1,000 statewide fire department representatives at Riverfront Park. Hoffpauir said he uses no reci pes for what he affectionately calls his “half Cajun, half Texan" dishes. The fire department cook says he uses seasonings at random and by experimenting. “The basics are there,” he told the Beaumont Enterprise! nal. “1 just keep changing! making variations of tne» theme each time 1 cook.” I loff pauir said he has nose ingredients. Patience is the keytobeirj good chef, he advised,! ing talent may run inthefai Hoffpauir’s firefighting faj whipped up gumbo and s 87 years in Beaumont. Hoffpauir is sometimes i sisted by 84-year department ei an I larold Kelps, (i2. Then hover over huge pots, slim green-colored powaers and: seasonings into the steamings; Hoffpauir said he dm usually eat what he cooks,i that’s not because he doesnil what he prepares. "By the time 1 get through ing everything while fmtook I’m just not hungry anymore.j said. ju By M Damage requests high in worker’s accidental shooting death on job Associated Press RIO GRANDE CITY — A Starr County jury has recommended that almost 3j>8 million in damages be given to the family of an oilfield worker fatally shot in the face by a co-worker. The seven-man, five-woman jury found gross negligence Thursday on the part of Heldt Brothers Trucking of Alice, an oilfield service company, and one of its former employees, Moses Medrano, 37, of Port Isabel. Medrano shot and killed Ruben Ruiz, 20, while playing w ith a gun at an oil rig at a west Starr County- ranch on May 21,1980, police said. Medrano had testified that his su pervisor, Rene Alvarado, saw him three times with the gun on the day of the accident, but only once told him to put it down. Medrano was playing Russian roulette with the .22 magnum re volver and had pointed the suppos edly broken gun at himselfi others, he testified. Medrano testified he puttki rel of the gun in his moult I pulled the trigger. He then it at Ruiz and “after so many clicked it and it went off," lie'; The he the Dalla I nished in 1 re.” Donalc | businessn ]May wit! ; money al | settlemen ding dive j tion was Securities j sion inves In a ft I rick said, und j uni] I a heroic ( jship.” Althoi jj episode c jcrupulou ral indi\ ;] paths. Contr; chopaths [firm gra [are cert: [ psychop; I their act j guilt feel j the pers< I or even t First, I no such | Indeed, ; psychop; j others fc pie have jjehopath! One i Idoes res I need to fled. 1 As At The Ruiz f amily had askcdl I in his 1 $10 million in damages. 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