Forensic Pathologist’s New Job Leaves 10 Colorado Counties in a Bind

Forensic Pathologist’s New Job Leaves 10 Colorado Counties in a Bind

SUMMARY

In the United States, there are different kinds of forensic laboratories set up, but when there are too few employees for one state, this can create quite a problem. For instance, Grand Junction-based forensic pathologist Dr. Robert Kurtzman has taken a job working out of state in Montana for another medical examiner’s office after working to serve 10 Colorado counties and one Native American tribe. After the retirement of another of his colleagues, he also had to travel to Durango, the county of which she covered. After his change of jobs, there has been talk of replacing Dr. Kurtzman since if there is a local forensics pathologist, “about five autopsies can be done a day” says Jann Smith, a coroner who works in La Plata, one of the counties Dr. Kurtzman originally covered. However, if the body has to be transported, it can take up to ten hours per body to be inspected. This is a huge problem that is primarily based around the coroner system, which ten states follow, including Colorado, which states that “coroners are elected and do not have to have a medical degree.” If the former is a case, someone who does will take over the postmortem inspection.

RELEVANCE

Unfortunately, Dr. Kurtzman’s decision to change jobs will result in the need for many counties to spend a lot of money and time transporting any bodies they have for autopsies in areas that do have coroners and medical examiners, such as Colorado Springs. In fact, because a lot of coroners do not have the expertise that a forensic pathologist like Kurtzman has, the need for medical examiners and forensic pathologists is higher than ever. Hence the coroner system seems to become obsolete; although, it is popular because coroners maintain a large amount of political power and influence, particularly in small counties not unlike the ones of which Dr. Kurtzman worked at. Although he is not worried about the competence of the coroners he used to work with, not everyone is equally at ease. His decision to move to another state and work for them may result in justice being delayed for the families of victims of unnatural causes because exporting bodies to and from small counties to cities will result in many complaints unless if a replacement is found. Currently, there is an unspecified replacement, but it does not mean that many important questions have been raised about the many systems used to run forensic labs, including: who is fit for being a coroner or any other forensics expert and how should people deal with the shortage of forensic pathologists and medical examiners? Is the coroner system outdated? Or is the medical examiner system just as flawed too? The situation in Colorado is just one of the many ways those questions can be answered.

CRITIQUE

Overall, this article was well-written with little to no errors. The article consistently follows standard English writing conventions and gives a lot of insight into the situation, providing solid details and examples to support the points the writer makes. Also, it flows nicely and maintains the reader’s attention from the hook until the very end. Last but not least, this article is concise yet has enough detail to provide a fleshed outlook of the circumstances regarding Dr. Kurtzman’s change in jobs and how that impacts the rest of his state and nation as well. Still, there were a few crucial problems. Jessica Pace, although she writes well, provides little to no information on several of the locations she mentioned. Even though this is a county newspaper, the least Pace could do is take into consideration that people outside of the state is able to read it since it was posted on the Forensic Magazine after all. Secondly, a select few of the quotations Pace uses are varied awkwardly due to the switch from using quote punctuation to using none. Paragraph breaks are often unnecessary and many paragraphs are made up of one sentence when ideas could have been connected better. Above all, not everyone has learned about the crime lab systems in the United States and though Pace did provide some information, particularly regarding the coroner. medical examiner and combined systems, there was plenty more that could have been explained. However, those flaws are just nitpicking and the article was enjoyable and easy to read for just about everyone.

CITATION

Pace, Jessica. "The Durango Herald 10/13/2015 | Forensic Pathologist’s New Job Leaves 10 Western Colorado Counties in a Bind." The Durango Herald. The Durango Herald, 13 Oct. 2015. Web. 14 Oct. 2015. <http://www.durangoherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20151013%2FNEWS01%2F151019874%2F0%2FFRONTPAGE%2FForensic-pathologist%E2%80%99s-new-job-leaves-10-Western-Colorado-counties-in-a-bind&template=printpicart>.