Expert witnesses beware: If you testify for a white cop who killed a black man who resisted arrest, radical leftists will try to find your home to terrorize you. Or fellow professionals will try to ruin your name.
In the first case, terrorists left a severed pig’s head at the former home of Barry Brood, a retired cop who testified for Derek Chauvin, who was unjustly found guilty in the drug-overdose death of George Floyd.
But now, professionals in lab coats have joined the intimidation campaign.
More than 400 doctors signed a letter that says David Fowler, the former chief medical examiner for Maryland, so egregiously erred in testifying for Chauvin that his 17-year career with the state must be scrutinized.
Of course, Maryland’s attorney general has obliged, and will order a probe into every death Fowler reviewed from 2003 through 2020.
The Letter
Of concern to the worthies who signed the letter was Fowler’s opinion that Floyd died of cardiac arrhythmia because of serious cardiovascular disease, and that drug use contributed to his death. Floyd’s proximity to the exhaust of a police car, Fowler testified, might mean carbon monoxide also contributed to his death.
Aside from the heart disease, the autopsy showed that Floyd had contracted the China Virus, and had taken a “fatal” dose of fentanyl. Fowler testified that the ultimate cause of death was, therefore, undetermined.
“The cause of death opinion, particularly the portion that suggested open-air carbon monoxide exposure as contributory, was baseless, revealed obvious bias, and raised malpractice concerns,” the letter of April 20 huffed:
Open Letter 2021 Sign 2The cause of death statement of any individual should be an injury, disease, or combination thereof, reached to a reliable degree of medical certainty. We believe the unsubstantiated opinion that carbon monoxide exposure may have contributed to the death of George Floyd is far outside that standard and is grounds for an immediate investigation into the practices of the physician as well as the practice of the Maryland State Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) while under his leadership.
Yet Fowler’s opinion that the cause of Floyd’s death was undetermined “raises significant concerns for his previous practice and management,” the signers wrote:
There is a genuine concern that there may be an inappropriate classification of deaths in custody by the Maryland OCME as either Accident or Undetermined to purposefully usurp a manner of death classification of Homicide.
Our disagreement with Dr. Fowler is not a matter of opinion. Our disagreement with Dr. Fowler is a matter of ethics. The disingenuous testimony of Dr. David Fowler exposes the frailty of the current Medical Examiner/Coroner System and illustrates the lack of existing oversight and uniformity of practice. If forensic pathologists can offer such baseless opinions without penalty, then the entire criminal justice system is at risk. This testimony was given on camera and in view of the entire world.
And so the signers demand a review of “ALL the deaths in custody investigated by the Maryland OCME from 2003-2020 by an appointed independent international panel of expert forensic pathologists, to specifically look at the determination of both cause and manner of death.”
The signers also want Fowler investigated for “ethical violations associated with death in custody diagnosis.”
Unsurprisingly, the Baltimore Sun reported, Maryland’s top officials quickly agreed. “We agree that it is appropriate for independent experts to review reports issued by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner regarding deaths in custody,” a spokesman for the attorney general told the newspaper. “We are already in conversations with the Governor’s Office about the need for such a review, and have offered to coordinate it.”
Waste of Time
The Washington Post cited a source who suggested that the review is a waste of time. Fowler ran a tight ship when he was chief medical examiner for Maryland.
“A person familiar with Fowler and his work, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of professional retribution, said Maryland had rigorous systems of oversight and quality assurance under Fowler’s watch,” the Post reported:
There were at least seven doctors working in each autopsy room in addition to regular reviewing conferences.
He also said the role of chief medical examiner in Maryland did not require Fowler to perform autopsies himself. As part of his leadership role, however, Fowler was tasked with reviewing every homicide, child and undetermined death. The person said Fowler was particularly inclined to trust the work of his physicians.
As for Fowler’s opinion about Floyd’s death, he consulted 13 professionals in “multiple disciplines” before reaching it.
Whether the lynch mob will go after them is unknown.
