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From: Bob Minton <bob@minton.org> Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: Crow memo to McCabe --- uncorrected OCR Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 10:12:10 -0400 Message-ID: <e74fks8mn03urqg3m44pd6alrrd4c3druf@4ax.com>
Original PDF document on web at www.xenutv.com/lisa/crowdroppings.pdf
To: Bernie McCabe
From: Douglas E. Crow
Date: 6/9/2000
Re: Review of Evidence in State v. Church of Scientology Flag Service
Organization, Inc.
I have been engaged in a review of the evidence supporting the criminal charges
against CSFSO since Chief Medical Examiner Joan Wood notified us that she had
changed the death certificate from undetermined to accident and that she had
removed dehydration and bed rest as causes of the pulmonary embolus which killed
Lisa. The amended death certificate also listed "psychosis" and "history of
traffic accident" as factors that contributed to the death but did not
contribute to the thromboernbolism. I have reviewed the evidence on which our
case is based, reviewed the extensive materials submitted to Dr. Wood by the
defense as well as additional materials submitted to us, have done extensive
medical research, and have reviewed the case with our existing experts as well
as new forensic and clinical experts. I have also reviewed the depositions of
Calvin Brandt and John Coe from the parallel civil case, and have fully
considered them to the extent they support or
undermine the conclusions of Dr. Wood and the underlying forensic basis for the
charges.
We initially began this lengthy and time consuming investigation into Lisa
McPherson's death based upon the Medical Examiner's insistence that it was
caused by criminal negligence, specifically the failure, individually or
collectively, of her caretakers to respond to the obvious and life threatening
dehydration which caused her death. When we concluded that individual criminal
charges could not be pursued, we nonetheless felt compelled by the facts
developed in our investigation and by the Medical Examiner's conclusion to
pursue corporate charges. We filed a charge of practicing medicine without a
license, which we decided should not be pursued as a single but independent
charge, only as an adjunct to the primary charge of felony neglect of a disabled
person.
Only because this conduct was the proximate cause of serious injury did we
perceive it as meeting the legal and constitutional prerequisites to prosecute a
religious corporation claiming constitutional and statutory protection.
Similarly, our ability to prove to a jury that
Lisa's injury or death resulted from the defendant's wrongful conduct supported
our belief that successful prosecution was likely and that the commitment of the
resources required to bring the responsible persons or entity to justice was
merited. Thus, given the issues in the case, correlating the defendant's conduct
with serious harm to the victim, even if not an element of both charges, was
viewed as a legal and factual prerequisite to prosecution.
While nothing in the review has caused me to believe that the central premises
behind the prosecution are erroneous, our ability to establish these necessary
facts beyond a reasonable doubt has clearly been compromised. The changes to the
death certificate and autopsy report are on their face seriously damaging to our
underlying theory of prosecution.
While Dr. Wood is an extremely intelligent and knowledgeable expert
who is a formidable witness when defending. a valid position, her inability to
coherently explain her decision even under benign questioning by me is
completely perplexing. Because of Wood's admission of a serious forensic error,
her illogical and unfortunately inconsistent justifications of her
decision to change the death certificate and autopsy report, the inconsistency
between the changes made in the death certificate and the forensic basis for our
charges, her continuing equivocation on issues central to the criminal case, and
the very real possibility that the cause of death listed by the Medical
Examiner's Office is incorrect, I have come to the conclusion
that presentation of the Medical Examiner's current testimony to a jury will
create a reasonable doubt on crucial forensic issues. When combined with
existing problems in the case, it is my recommendation that we should not
continue to pursue the prosecution.
The Initial Autopsy
The credibility problems which now plague the case originate with Wood's
entrustment of the autopsy to associate medical examiner Robert Davis, Wood's
decision to sign out the autopsy herself five months after Davis' departure, and
Wood's still puzzling decision, after mistakenly releasing the autopsy report on
an active criminal case, of giving an on camera interview to the national
electronic media.
Davis, who had retrained in forensic pathology after a clinical career in
hospital pathology, was hired by Wood as an associate medical examiner in June
of 1991. According to the documentation in Davis' personnel file, problems arose
early in his tenure and continued throughout his employment. The difficulty
appeared to escalate in March of 1995, culminating in an apparent decision by
Wood to either terminate Davis or have him voluntarily resign in August of 1995.
Wood relented after Davis' attorney suggested he had been diagnosed as having a
mental disorder (and therefore might have a possible claim under the Americans
with Disabilities Act). Wood agreed to allow Davis to stay employed until his
daughter's graduation at the end of the school year, providing he would
voluntarily resign at that time. It was during this interim that Davis performed
the autopsy on Lisa McPherson.
While Wood indicates that she was present during parts of the autopsy and
believes she was present when the lungs were opened up and the "embolus" was
found, Davis does not recall her being present. In May of 1996, Davis left the
Sixth District and became an associate medical examiner in Volusia County under
then-Chief Medical Examiner Ron Reeves. The autopsy protocol had been dictated
but no final anatomic diagnosis had been rendered.
On October 30. 1996. Wood signed out the Lisa McPherson autopsy, determining a
pulmonary embolism to be the immediate cause of death and further finding that
the embolus was caused by bed rest and severe dehydration. Wood had seen the
histological slides before reaching these conclusions but, as far as I can
determine, did not examine the tissues preserved by Davis, including the
pulmonary embolus or the popliteal vein thrombus which. was believed to be
embolism's source. Wood no longer recalls what information she may have had from
the law enforcement investigation that Davis would not have possessed and
indicates she did not consult with clinical experts prior to reaching her
conclusions. Wood no longer recalls any specific reason why she signed out the
autopsy herself (Davis apparently signed out on all the other autopsies that
were still pending at the time of his departure).'
Subsequently, Dr. Wood decided to grant an on camera interview to Matt Meaghar
of Inside Edition, with the knowledge of the police department and the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement, but .without the knowledge of our office. During
that interview, Wood
`The MEO file reflects that a short time before Wood's decision, Lisa's mother,
Fannie McPherson, left a
message for Dr. Wood indicating that a final death certificate was necessary to
complete Lisa's affairs.
explained that Lisa had died of the embolism as a result of severe dehydration
and bed rest after going without water from five to ten and possibly up to 17
daps Shy referred to Lisa as the severest case of dehydration she had ever seen
and indicated that she had been unconsce^~ f^r 48 hours prior to her death. When
asked if Lisa was comatose, Wood confirmed that she was "Unconscious, comatose".
She emphasized the certainty of these conclusions by stating that she testified
in court frequently and was used to choosing her
words carefully.
Robert Davis' Testimony
Davis has significantly changed his testimony from a 1997
deposition given in the civil case and strongly disagrees that Lisa was severely
dehydrated. He has made a series of strange but damaging accusations against
Wood concerning the Medical Examiner's Office's
handling of the case. If, as Wood's refutations suggest, Davis' allegations are
the result of a serious memory deficit on his part, they nonetheless undermine
both the credibility of the office and the reliability of the autopsy on which
our forensic case is based.
In the 1997 deposition Davis testified that Lisa's appearance
suggested "significant dehydration" and that the vitreous results if accurate
were a "profound" indication of dehydration. He suggested that the embolism was
pre-mortem and could have resulted from either earlier trauma (such as a traffic
accident) or from dehydration and refused to give a definitive opinion as to
which cause was actually responsible. He was also equivocal on whether the
embolus or dehydration was the cause of death. He expressed no recollection of
whether or not the organs may have been sticky and testified that he would not
have noted such a factor in that her appearance (the gaunt look and sunken eyes
which he described as "hippocratic facies") would have been a much more dramatic
indication of dehydration. He indicated he was not very familiar with vitreous
testing, although he was aware that potassium values in the vitreous change
after death and would defer to others in evaluating the validity of the readings
and whether the 300 urea nitrogen level was accurate or an artifact. He
suggested that it was vitreous rather than urine values that he would rely on to
determine dehydration. .
While Davis' substantive testimony was equivocal, he attributed a series of
bizarre actions to Wood under questioning by counsel for the Church of
Scientology. He suggested chat Wood never consulted with or informed him of her
decision to sign out the McPherson case, suggested that Wood and MEO Director of
Operations Larry Bedore had later called him, unsolicited, to send him the
autopsy slides and his personnel file and that he became
suspicious of their motives. He also stated that he returned the materials by
taxi. He alleged that Wood had told him to refuse to talk to police officers or
prosecutors about the case. He did not remember Wood being present during the
autopsy and complained that his handwritten notes= which would have helped
prompt his memory of the case should have been retained in the office file.
I spoke with Davis in May of 1998. My recollection of our meeting is different
than what is reflected in his affidavit of February 2000. When I attempted to
schedule a meeting with Davis prior to the filing of charges, his attorney
questioned the necessity of interviewing him since his deposition had already
been taken in the civil case and he did not intend to deviate from that
testimony. I met with Davis at his attorney's office in Daytona Beach and was
again reminded that he had already been extensively deposed. Our conversation
lasted for several hours. He refused to acknowledge the accuracy of the autopsy
protocol itself, apparently believing that someone had altered the wording
(without significantly changing the meaning) of his dictation. He continued to
assert that Wood and Bedore initiated contact with
him and sent him the autopsy materials even though Bedore's notes document that
Davis called them after a Church of Scientology investigator showed up at his
house over the weekend. Davis finally acknowledged that an investigator had
shown up at his house and that he was upset by it, but denied that he called
Wood's office as a result.
Bedore's notes further indicated that Davis requested the autopsy materials to
review and that he told them he was meeting with a lawyer representing the
Church of Scientology. Initially, Davis repeatedly denied to me that any such
meeting was planned or occurred until his lawyer prompted his recollection by
asking him who a certain lawyer was. Davis
'Dr. Davis indicated he invariably made handwritten notes about the autopsy on a
photocopied form. A review of his files since 1995 does not confirm this. See
page 7-8, infra.
indicated that the lawyer represented the Church of Scientology (a well known
local lawyer not openly involved in the civil suit) and then acknowledged that
he had indeed met with him (Bedore's notes suggest Reeves had agreed to cancel
the meeting for the "time being") and discussed the case. He seemed not to
comprehend that this answer was completely inconsistent with what he had been
repeatedly telling me. He continued to maintain that even though he did meet
with a Church lawyer about the case, he had not requested to review the
materials and continued to state that Wood had admonished him not to talk to
police or prosecutors.
At this point, Davis' lawyer suggested a break and requested that she talk with
me in her private office. We talked outside Davis' presence. I expressed concern
over what I perceived to be memory deficits on Davis' part and whether they were
the result of his illness. She indicated he was on "new medication" and doing
much better and that he didn't want to become involved in the controversy
surrounding the case but just wanted to continue on with his job. She stated she
had reviewed the detailed criticisms by Bedore contained in the personnel file
but Dr. Davis had not. We later continued the interview with Davis for a
brief time and ended it on a cordial note.'
Shortly after my meeting with Davis, a controversy arose concerning Dr.
Reeves which resulted in his suspension by Volusia County. The Medical Examiners
Commission, of which Wood was chairman, was called in to help run the office and
appointed a group of Medical Examiners to review a series of autopsies in which
the cause of death determinations were being questioned. The reviewing
pathologists disagreed with the findings made by Reeves' office. Reeves resigned
and Davis was not retained by Volusia County after the inquiry.
At some point after losing his position, Davis continued to talk to
Scientology representatives and gave them at least two affidavits that reflected
a change in his testimony. In the latest affidavit he opines, in contradiction
to his earlier testimony, that the thrombus
'Despite the mischaracterization in the defense responses that I was verbally
abusive to Dr. Davis, he subsequently called me for a job recommendation. I
suggested that because of my familiarity with the details of his personnel file
it would be better for him to have someone else talk to a prospective employer.
He thanked me for my candor.resulted from the car accident prior to Lisa being
released into Scientology's care. He also indicates that he repeatedly told Wood
he questioned the validity of the vitreous readings, and that his autopsy
findings including the absence of stickiness in the intestines, together with
other unspecified "credible investigation" have led him to believe that there is
no reliable evidence of dehydration. He further suggests that Wood, not he or
Reeves, insisted that the autopsy materials be couriered back immediately by
taxi. He further claimed that he repeatedly requested and was denied access to
the McPherson file after he left the office but before Wood issued the death
certificate.
Wood has repeatedly denied Davis' claim that she did not speak to him before
signing out the autopsy. She indicates she spoke to him by telephone, and he
agreed with or acquiesced in her conclusion that bed rest and dehydration had
caused the fatal embolism. She produced an internal phone toll record confirming
'a call from her office to his shortly before the certificate was made final.
She denies that anyone in her office would have refused him access to the file.
She denies that Davis made any comments about the validity of the vitreous
tests. She denies telling him not to talk to police or prosecutors (a claim that
made little if any sense to begin with)' and instead, as confirmed by Bedore's
notes, indicates she advised him not to talk to attorneys representing the
Church while the criminal investigation was pending. She denies destroying
Davis' "notes" concerning the McPherson autopsy. A detailed review of all of
Davis files indicates that he either quit making the notes or they were no
longer incorporated into the autopsy files between March and August 1995 -at
approximately the time his difficulties with Wood escalated. In reviewing
examples of these notes in other files, they do not appear to be particularly
detailed and contain substantially less information than dictated in the
protocol.
'To make things more confusing, Wood nonetheless testified in the Public Records
suit in February of 1997 that she had not discussed the case with Davis
immediately prior to issuing the death certificate but had discussed it with him
prior to him leaving the office. When asked in her recent testimony about this
apparent contradiction, she had no explanation.
'I have known and worked with Doctor Wood for over 20 yeas. Notwithstanding the
serious differences between us concerning her actions in this case I have never
known her to avoid or advise her staff to avoid contact with police or
prosecutors. She and her staff have fully cooperated with all requests for
information from the inception of the investigation.
Thus. Davis agreed to meet with and, against the advice of Wood, may have
privately spoken with a local attorney representing the Church in early 1997
even though the criminal investigation was unresolved. During Wood's February
1997 deposition in the public records suit she was asked whether she had made
comments to "other medical examiners in the state about the Church of
Scientology". In light of a recently filed affidavit by Reeves that she had done
so to him in 1990, this appears to be information related by Reeves or Davis to
the Church even before Davis' civil deposition. Davis was deposed in the civil
case without any notice to our office. He subsequently has provided multiple
favorable affidavits to the defense and has relied on unknown investigative
information supplied by them to reach conclusions antagonistic to the
prosecution and contrary to his initial testimony.
Clearly, having the medical examiner who performed the autopsy testify against
the state in a criminal case and contradict the scientific basis of the
prosecution is a difficult obstacle. The allegations against Wood and her office
can only be countered if Wood testifies with credibility and authority.
Defending these allegations by impeaching the accuracy of Dr. Robert Davis'
memory will also undermine the reliability of the autopsy he performed.
Diarrhea
The defense hired an exercise physiologist who had done extensive research on
heat and exercise induced dehydration in healthy subjects. I interviewed this
witness informally at their request. He suggested that there was fecal material
on the body at autopsy and what appeared to be watery feces on a sheet
underneath the body in one of the photographs. (There is also inconsistent
testimony that Lisa may have experienced diarrhea during the last 24 hours prior
to her death.) In this witness's experience it would be impossible for anyone
severely dehydrated to experience diarrhea, as his or her feces would become
hard and compact.
Assuming that this stain represents watery diarrhea, our clinical experts
disagree that it precludes dehydration. Certainly, diarrhea has been a major
cause of dehydration deaths around the world and diarrhea can continue to occur
even after the onset of severe dehydration. Moreover, in a situation of
intermittent feeding with Lisa going for significant periods without adequate
complex carbohydrates in the diet, diarrhea would not be an unexpected
condition'. As Lisa approached death and became severely uremic and her system
became severely compromised, her situation would simply not be analogous to the
witness's experience.
Accident Reconstruction
The defense has long suggested, despite any objective evidence to support the
theory, that the thrombus in Lisa's popliteal vein resulted from an injury she
received in the traffic accident. Such a theory puts the cause of death
occurring before Lisa was their responsibility and might therefore have some
relevance to minimizing their liability in the civil case. Whether any trauma
that contributed to the formation of the thrombus occurred in the earlier
accident or in the Fort Harrison is of lesser significance to the criminal case
which is based primarily upon her caretakers' failure to act once it became
apparent that she had a life threatening illness. .
Dr. Wood has adamantly maintained that the thrombus and embolus were of recent
origin and could not have been the result of trauma sustained in the traffic
accident seventeen days earlier. The defense suggests that an injury and
resulting bruise occurred when Lisa's lower outside left thigh struck the
armrest of her vehicle and this injury is responsible for the formation of the
thrombus. While trauma can contribute to thrombus formation directly if it
results in injury to the endothelium (the interior surface of the blood vessel),
it seems unlikely that a force applied to the side of the leg would injure the
interior wall of a vessel buried behind the crook of the knee. While it is not
inconceivable that a minor injury could
'The cells lining the colon deprive their sustenance from short chain fatty
acids created by bacterial fermentation of complex carbohydrates, and they
become starved and unable to absorb water during the digestive process when
carbohydrate intake is severely restricted. (The resulting condition is
sometimes referred to as "starvation diarrhea.). Even if simple carbohydrates
are reinstated in the diet, diarrhea will continue until these mucosal cells
receive adequate nutrition. Roediger, W.E., Metabolic Basis of Starvation
Diarrhea: Implications for Treatment, Lancet, May 10, 1986 at page 1082.
Roediger, The Starved Colon-Diminished Mucosal Nutrition, Diminished Absorption,
and Colitis, 33 Dis. Col. & Rect. 860 (1990).
contribute to thrombus formation in some other way, our experts suggest that
severity of Lisa's dehydration and her resulting immobility would be much more
obvious factors.
More importantly, however, the evidence does not support the suggestion that the
bruise on the left thigh (or any other significant injury) resulted from this
minor accident. All witnesses describe the accident as extremely minor. They did
not observe any injury to Lisa' or the other driver, nor did Lisa complain of
any pain or injury. A caretaker who watched Lisa several days into her stay
testified she had no injuries or bruises of any kind on her legs at that time,
describing them as being "like porcelain". The defense avoids the implication of
this testimony by relying on an accident reconstruction to establish that the
armrest of Lisa's car could have impacted her leg in the location where the
bruise is.
We have consulted with Dr. James Ipser, a physics professor at the University of
Florida, who has considerable expertise in accident reconstruction and in the
mechanics of body movement within a vehicle during a collision. Ipser reviewed
the photographs of the damage to Lisa's vehicle and the reports of the officers
who witnessed the accident. Ipser concluded that the maximum change in velocity
of the vehicle was on the order of 4.5 miles an hour. Even without a restraint
system in place (Lisa said she had been wearing her seat belt), the likelihood
of injury would be minimal. Moreover, the sideways component of the velocity
would be almost negligible - equivalent to 1-mph. Therefore, according to
Ipser's calculations there is virtually no likelihood that the accident caused
the bruise on Lisa's thigh.
Ketones
The average human body stores only enough carbohydrate to provide energy for
body and cellular functions for no more than half a day. If more carbohydrate is
not ingested the body then resorts to rapidly metabolizing easily mobilized
non-essential proteins for energy. In order to protect essential body substances
and organs, which are largely protein, the body
'The paramedics saw Lisa completely nude.
then begins to metabolize fatty tissue for energy.s Fat is broken down and then
is converted in the liver to ketones bodies, specifically acetone, aceto-acetic
acid and beta-hydroxybutyric acid, which can be used by the body and brain for
fuel. The build up of these substances in the bloodstream during starvation is
referred to as ketosis.' Ketones are volatile substances that evaporate easily.
For instance acetone may be expelled in the exhaled air of the lungs, giving the
breath a characteristic odor that is diagnostic of ketosis.'° As starvation
continues and fat stores are used up, the body again reverts to rapidly
metabolizing remaining body protein, causing ketosis to decrease or disappear."
Testing of the vitreous within days of death for alcohol should have revealed
acetone
Y
had it been present. Testing of the small amount of urine removed from Lisa's
bladder during autopsy revealed no ketones. A dipstick test for acetoacetic acid
was done on both the vitreous and serum four years after Lisa's death and was
negative.
The defense has suggested that the absence of ketones in Lisa's urine and
vitreous is a strong indicator that she was neither malnourished nor dehydrated.
While there is substantial literature suggesting that a person who is starved
will develop ketosis, the defense relies primarily on a letter to a medical
journal relating a Malaysian study that correlated clinical diagnosis of the
severity of dehydration with the amount of ketones present in the blood. The
letter is unclear about the state of nutrition the test subjects and it is
therefore unknown whether they were only dehydrated or were both malnourished
and dehydrated. In fact the premise of the study was not that dehydration would
itself cause ketosis but "if one is dehydrated because of poor water intake or
net fluid loss, one should have decreased food intake, including carbohydrates.
Depleting carbohydrate reserves causes the body to switch to
'See, e.g., Guyton & Hall, Textbook of Medical Physiology, (1996) at pages 869
and 894.
9ld. at 869. "Ketosis occurs especially in starvation, in diabetes mellitus, and
sometimes even when a person's diet is composed almost entirely of fat. In all
these states essentially no carbohydrates are metabolized - in starvation and
after a high-fat diet because carbohydrates are not available and in diabetes
because insulin is not available to cause glucose transport into cells.
'Me caretaker notes describe Lisa has having extremely foul breath during the
middle of her stay at the Ft. Harrison
"Guyton and Hall, supra at 894.
fatty acid and ketone metabolism."" (emphasis supplied). I have found no
published study indicating that ketones are diagnostic of dehydration, nor have
any of our forensic or clinical experts, including Dr. Wood, suggested that
dehydration alone would cause ketosis.
Assuming that Lisa was both malnourished and dehydrated there are several
possible explanations for the absence of ketones. As a malnourished individual's
fat stores are used up, the body reverts again to protein as an energy source
and ketosis would disappear.'' Thus since Lisa was intermittently fed, she could
have died in the early stages of malnourishment prior to ketosis or at the end
stage when metabolism has shifted from fat ba4 k to protein. Also Lisa's severe
dehydration and the resulting hyperosmolarity of her blood, could have inhibited
ketosis" or her intermittent feedings after becoming malnourished could have, by
supplying enough carbohydrates to meet the brain's energy needs, caused her
ketone levels to drop rapidly and dramatically.ts Since, Lisa ate sparsely and
intermittently during her stay, and since her severe condition and closeness to
death
"Letter, Assessment of Dehydration in Adults Using Hematologic and Biochemical
Tests, 4 Academic Emergency Medicine 840 (1997). The defense also supplied Dr.
Wood with a glossary of laboratory interpretations, apparently from the web cite
of a clinic that treats AIDS cases. This contained the unexplained statement
that "keytones" can be seen with "fasting, dehydration, diabetes and from
increased fat in the diet", even though the author apparently did not know the
correct spelling of the term he was defining. The defense also supplied a one
line reference from Saunders' Manual of Clinical Laboratory Science that
dehydration may be one of the clinical implications of a positive ketone
finding. This seems to be more consistent with noting the correlation between a
patient's lack of fluid and lack of food intake than an assertion that
dehydration alone will lead to ketosis.
i
'31d.
"Ginsberg, Fellner & Primack, Recurrent Hyperosmolar Nonketotic Episodes in a
Young Diabetic, 129 Am J Dis Child 240 (1975). Gerich, et al., Effect of
Dehydration and Hyperosmolarity on Glucose, Free Fatty Acid and Ketone Body
Metabolism in the Rat, 22 Diabetes 264 (1973). Osmolarity and Osmolality are
measures of the amount or number of particles in a solution. Normal serum
osmolality is around 300. Lisa's was over 500 when
tested in 1999 and based upon the other electrolyte readings would have been
very high in any event. Dr. Wood i
has discounted this research as a potential explanation for absence of ketones,
because the condition which it
explores occurs in person who are mildly diabetic and severely dehydrated. Dr.
Whitworth, however, one of our
consultants whose expertise is in pediatric and clinical nephrology and who has
supervised the treatment of children
and adults who were diabetics, believes it is one of several viable reasons why
we would not find ketones in Lisa's
body fluids. In light of the clear evidence of dehydration, Whitworth is not
dissuaded from his conclusions by the
ketone issue.
"Aoki, Metabolic Adaptations to Starvation, Semistarvation and Carbohydrate
Restriction, 67 Prog Clin Biol Res 161(1981) at 173-176.
would have affected her system, it is difficult to predict exactly what part of
these complicated and interrelated metabolic processes were ongoing.`6
While our clinical experts have opined that Lisa would have been unresponsive
for one or more days prior to her death (a condition sometimes referred to as a
uremic coma), this is not the equivalent of someone who is truly comatose. A
person in this state, while they are extremely ill and may appear to be
unconscious, can sometimes with great difficulty be aroused to a minimal level.
Therefore some intake of nutrition during this period would not be impossible."
However, Wood had committed herself to the position that Lisa had actually been
comatose for two days prior to her death, which if true might suggest that she
should also be malnourished and therefore ketotic. Perhaps for this reason,
Wood's entreaty to one of her consultants by email reveals an air of desperation
declaring that her life and career are at stake." Since changing the death
certificate and autopsy report, Wood has been inconsistent in her concerns over
the ketone issue. She initially indicated it had no impact on her conclusions as
to the severity of Lisa's dehydration. Subsequently, despite having removed
dehydration from the death certificate, she indicated that the absence of
ketones did not override her opinion that dehydration was a factor in Lisa's
death. In her latest statement, however, she expresses significant doubt as to
the validity of both these conclusions due to her unresolved concerns over
ketones.`9
"For instance in one of the few reported individual case histories involving
uremia with a urea nitrogen of approximately 300, the elderly patient had been
unable to eat or drink due to a growth in her throat and had become severely
dehydrated. Urine testing for the ketone body acetone was negative. Hoffer,
Blood Urea Nitrogen of 300 Due to Volume Depletion Case Report, 110 J. Urol,
pages 9-10 (1973).
"Whitworth continues to believe however, that Lisa's condition ne would have
become so severe by the evening
of her death that she was incapable of voluntary movement or coherent speech.
"This is reflected in an exchange of email messages between Wood and her
consultants before her amendment of the death certificate. In one of these
messages, dated February 13, 2000, marked "urgent", and addressed to Jay
Whitworth, Wood indicates that she has to explain the absence of ketones to
"save [her] career", that if she does not she "may be forced off [her] opinion"
and "have to back down." Wood also asks Whitworth not to let her down, and
asserts that "Life and career are at stake!"
"Wood's latest testimony is inaccurate in her recollection of the changes and
timing in her opinions on this subject. For instance, despite having told myself
and Jim Hellickson in early April that she currently believed that dehydration
was a partial of cause of death, she testified last week that she had only very
recently reached that
Thus, although our other expert witnesses do not believe that the absence of
ketones'
would override the clear evidence of dehydration, the issue remains a
significant concern of
Wood and will generate reasonable doubt if she testifies in the case.
The validity of the vitreous tests
Vitreous
The defense has suggested since the outset of the case that the vitreous
readings are artefactual and should be disregarded. They have suggested that the
machines in question are not certified to test vitreous fluid, that the vitreous
fluid was not properly preserved, that vitreous is .unreliable fdr cause of
death determinations and that the results are anomalous and inconsistent with
Lisa's condition. Finally, they have implied in Bandt's civil deposition that
the Medical Examiner's Office may have intentionally "spiked" the vitreous
sample in order to achieve artificially high results. There is no doubt that
CSFSO will make an unrelenting attack on the validity and even the admissibility
of the vitreous test results, including rather vicious and desperate allegations
that the samples have been doctored. The more testing we have done and the more
times we have reviewed the analysis the more I have become convinced that the
tests are scientifically accurate reflections of Lisa's clinical condition. i
Vitreous results have been widely used for decades in cause of death
determinations throughout the country. Extensive research by Coe and others has
shown the stability of the electrolytes and other blood substances in question
in the vitreous after death and that they reliably reflect pre-mortem blood
levels. Vitreous fluid has been found more reliable than post mortem serum
testing because the eye, being a closed chamber, is less susceptible to post
death contamination. It is less affected by cellular breakdown than blood
because it has only a small cellular content.2° While the machines are not
"certified" for running vitreous
conclusion after reviewing Dr. Bandt's testimony in the civil case. This
testimony was not taken until May.
'Cell membranes degrade after death releasing the intracellular contents into
the extracellular fluid. Potassium is retained in higher concentration inside
the cell and sodium is maintained in higher concentrations outside the cell by a
process known as active transport. Thus cellular breakdown in the blood
confounds assessment of pre-mortem
samples, I am unaware of any requirement for certification for forensic as
opposed to clinical purposes. The Wuesthoff Laboratory has conducted a large
number of vitreous tests for Dr. Wood's office and for other medical examiners
throughout the state with no previous indication of aberrant results. These
machines have been widely used and demonstrated accurate results in the testing
of specific substances from vitreous.
Preservation of Samples
The defense will undoubtedly launch an all out attack on the maintenance and
preservation of the vitreous sample. They will attack the delay in having the
vitreous tested, the failure to refrigerate the sample in its transport to
Wuesthoff Laboratory before the analysis, and Wood's failure to acknowledge the
existence of remaining vitreous fluid when deposed in the public record suit.
The adequacy of the Medical Examiner's procedures for maintaining evidence will
be scrutinized in minute detail and it is uncertain what problems may develop.
A central premise of the defense attack is that clinical laboratories have
developed standards for how long biological samples may be refrigerated or
frozen, yet still be subjected to reliable clinical testing. There are of course
no standards for vitreous fluid since it is used exclusively in a forensic and
not a clinical setting. While Dr. Wood feels that these standards, which were
designed to apply to testing of patient samples for diagnostic purposes, are
inappropriately applied in this case, the defense will be able to generate
confusion and doubt in this attack. They will also attack the validity of the
retesting on a four
year old sample and try to suggest that the variances between the readings of
the samples precludes them from being scientifically reliable.
It is our belief that the research indicates that the crucial electrolytes we
are looking at have been established to be reliable and stable in post mortem
samples and that the relatively small variances in test results on different
machines over a four year period are inconsistent~with any significant
evaporation or sublimation of the sample before the
extracellular levels of these electrolytes.
Wuesthoff Laboratory testing. Degradation which would affect sodium levels - the
breakdown of cells releasing their contents into the extracellular fluid - would
reduce the sodium levels, not increase them. Similarly, urea is a highly
permeable molecule that is evenly distributed throughout the body in both
intracellular and extracellular fluid. It is produced in the liver and is an
extremely stable compound. Despite extensive research and consultation with
experts, I have not identified any biological process that would increase the
relative amount of urea in a sample - other than evaporation or sublimation- nor
has the defense suggested any.'-' The sample has been stoppered and has been
appropriately maintained (initially by refrigeration and then in frozen form).
Specific Gravity reflected in the Wuesthoff tests.
The defense correctly pointed out the specific gravity of the vitreous recorded
in Wuesthoff tests of 1.337 was impossibly high. They suggested that this meant
the sample was substantially evaporated and that therefore the high readings
from the vitreous testing were not accurate reflections of pre-mortem blood
levels.
When the vitreous was retested for specific gravity at National Medical Services
by Reiders and Bandt in Larry Bedore's presence this was discovered to be a
human error. The device used to measure specific gravity requires the technician
to look into an eyepiece and read a scale reflected on one side of his field of
vision. The same instrument contains a specific gravity reading on one side and
a refraction index on the opposite side. The actual specific gravity of the
vitreous (1.011) correlated closely with a reading on the refraction index of
1.337 (the reading reported by Wuesthoff). It is therefore apparent that the
Wuesthoff technician reported the incorrect reading from the refraction index
scale rather than the specific gravity scale. .
oHigh BUNIYUN readings
"Similarly, if the sample were affected by evaporation or sublimation
(evaporation from frozen directly to gaseous form), this would be raise the
relative levels of all dissolved substances and would not explain the defense's
assertion that the urea readings are disproportionately high.
The defense has repeatedly asserted that the vitreous urea nitrogen results (300
mg./dl) are so high that they must be artefactual. They also suggest that they
are so out of sync with the creatininel levels that they cannot be correct. In a
normal patient urea and creatinine are present in a 10 to one ratio. Lisa's
vitreous ratio of urea to creatinine is over 100 to one. While such readings
might be considered anomalous in a healthy patient, they are to be reasonably
expected in someone such as Lisa who due to her severe dehydration and the lack
of perfusion of blood through the kidneys has developed prerenal azotemia."'
Urea is the end product of protein breakdown by the body. When the body digests
its own or dietary protein, the waste products from that metabolic process are
converted by the liver into urea through the action or a specific enzyme. Urea
levels are therefore more diet sensitive than creatinine and someone who is
metabolizing their own body protein because of malnutrition or is receiving a
relatively large proportion of protein in their diet will have elevated urea
readings." When a person begins to become severely dehydrated, their blood
volume decreases causing inadequate perfusion of blood and oxygen to the kidneys
which makes them less efficient and slows the filtration process. Small easily
perfused molecules such as urea are filtered out then reabsorbed, while larger
molecules such as creatinine escape reabsorption. High electrolyte levels
increase further and urea rises out of proportion to creatinine levels. This
condition is called prerenal azotemia and is typically encountered by clinical
practitioners in nephrology.
Defense experts have nonetheless suggested that since 300 mg/dl is higher than
they have encountered in forensic pathology that the values cannot be correct.
However, research articles document earlier cases of patients with urea levels
at or above 300.1 Additionally,
nCreatinine is a waste product occurring from muscle activity.
'Azotemia is the build up of nitrogenous wastes, such as urea in the blood
stream.
'Research indicates that high protein diet can itself lead to high urea levels
and dehydration. Gault et al, Hypematremia, Azotemia and Dehydration Due to
High-Protein Tube Feeding, 68 Annals of Int Med., no. 4 778 (1968). Dougherty,
Influence of High -Protein Diets on Renal Function, 63 J Am Dietetic Assn 392
(1973).
'Hoffer, supra at note 10. Rudman & Smetana, Acute Renal Failure as a
Complication of Cholera 15 Harefuah Dec. 1995 (abstract reflects - article was
not translated from Hebrew-.that a patient severely dehydrated from cholera
developed azotemia with a urea nitrogen level of 330 mg/dl and survived).
if one considers the literature predating dialysis (which is now used to keep
urea levels under control) the values are far from impossible. For instance in a
detailed psychiatric study of the mental symptoms that accompany azotemia which
was done in the late sixties, approximately half of a sample of azotemic
patients had urea nitrogen values over 250.6 This same study references earlier
reports and studies identifying cases with urea nitrogen levels in the 400's and
above.'-'
Simply because modern medical examiners rarely see these values does not make
then unexplainable or anomalous. Our experts believe they are consistent with
severe, life threatening dehydration, and even more likely in a partially
malnourished patient who is x receiving urea rich protein in her diet.
Elevated urine sodium
As the body becomes dehydrated the kidneys, in an attempt to conserve water,
begin to reabsorb and retain sodium and prevent its excretion into the urine. In
the early stages of dehydration - induced prerenal azotemia urine sodium values
would be expected to be very low, normally below 10 or 20 meq/L. If the
patient's condition continues to worsen, the kidney tubules become dysfunctional
and begin to lose their ability to retain sodium. Urine sodium levels then begin
to rise, even though the kidneys may still be able to concentrate urine.
Analysis of the very small amount of urine removed from Lisa's bladder at
autopsy indicated it contained 53 meq/L of sodium. The defense contends that
even if the other vitreous and urine readings are consistent with prerenal
azotemia (and therefore not
anomalous results), that this sodium level would eliminate such a diagnosis.
They also'
zeStenback, Azotemia and Psychosis, 43 Acta Psych Scand 5 (1967) at 33 (because
of the age of the article the urea nitrogen values are expressed in mg/100m1
which is equivalent to current usage of mg/dl.).
2'Id. at 41-42. This same study at page 22 reports a study by Olsen of autopsies
of 104 individuals who died from uremia. Seventy one of the patients had
developed acute renal failure as a result of surgical interventions, poisonings,
sepsis , etc rather than from chronic renal, failure and in 68 of the patients
the uremia has lasted 21 days or less. Only 14 patients had a serum urea
nitrogen under 200 mgll00mi.
suggest that the high urine osmolarity and specific gravity suggest that
structural damage to the kidneys had not yet occurred.
My research and consultation with experts indicates that while these sodium
readings are higher than might be expected they do not eliminate the existence
of prerenal azotemia. The research articles from which these diagnostic criteria
originate acknowledge that it is an imperfect method of distinguishing .between
prerenal azotemia and renal failure caused by acute tubular necrosis. These
studies actually suggest that a significant number of persons with prerenal
azotemia will be over the 20 meqlL level, that no one urine index can be used to
diagnose the condition, and that traditional urine indices often fail to
discriminate between the two conditions." Thus, these suggested levels are
useful diagnostic benchmarks but do not rule out prerenal azotemia.
More importantly however, the shift from prerenal azotemia to acute tubular
necrosis is not an instantaneous process and may be somewhat erratic. A single
isolated reading cannot indicate with certainty where along this continuum Lisa
would have been. Assuming that the higher urine sodium reading indicates that
tubular necrosis had begun, minimal structural damage would not necessarily be
distinguishable from normal post mortem changes. Thus, the urine sodium readings
are consistent with what our experts believe was occurring to Lisa as a result
of her severe dehydration and are not unexpected or anomalous.
Urine osmolality
The defense's exercise physiologist suggested that when a person begins to
become dehydrated, small increases in serum osmolality will trigger dramatic and
predictable a increases in urine osmolality. (Osmolality and osmolarity although
technically different are used somewhat interchangeably as measures of the
amount of substances dissolved in a given weight or volume of solute.) He
suggested that working backward from Lisa's urine
"Miller et al,
Urinary Diagnostic Indices in Acute Renal Failure, 89 Annals of Internal
Medicine 47 (1978), Zarich et al, Fractional Excretion of Sodium, 145 Arch
Intern Med 106 (1985). Taken together these articles suggest that urine sodium
levels of 20-40 will be seen in all forms of renal failure and levels over 40
will be seen in some persons with prerenal azotemia.
osmolality of 600, her serum osmolality could be calculated to be lower than
that required to trigger the thirst mechanism. Therefore, he believes she was
not dehydrated.
The nephrologists we consulted along with other clinical specialists indicate
that this formula, while it might be appropriate for moderately dehydrated
healthy subjects is simply inapplicable to someone who is seriously dehydrated
and therefore hypovolemic. As blood volume decreases and the perfusion of blood
through the kidneys falls below certain critical levels, the kidneys while still
able to concentrate urine and structurally undamaged are unable to operate
efficiently. This set of values - urine osmolality of 600, high vitreous sodium,
urea and creatinine with a distorted urea to creatinine ratio - is not anomalous
but typical of what nephrologists see in prerenal azotemia.
Variance in- ICPMS readings
The National Medical Services Lab was supposed to arrange for testing of sodium
and chloride levels on Beckman synchron autoanalyzers as had been used in the
initial Wuesthoff testing. When this was not arranged, ICPMS testing was used to
test for these and numerous other elements. (The Monarch analyzers used to test
for urea and creatinine were apparently unable to analyze for these electrolytes
in the sample).
ICPMS (inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry) testing ionizes elements in
a sample by combining them with argon plasma and then uses a mass spectrometer
to identify and quantify their presence. The readings for Lisa's vitreous and
serum chloride were distorted - almost ten times the readings given by other
methodologies. Similarly, the sodium readings were uncharacteristically low and
varied greatly from the three other tests (done on Hitachi and Beckman machines
in 1996 and Beckman machines in 1999). Although not acknowledged in the report
of National Medical Services to the Medical Examiner's Office, chlorine is not
an element that can accurately be measure by ICPMS.
Chlorine is close in atomic weight to the argon gas which is used to transport
the sample through the mechanism and therefore readings are often abnormally
high because the chlorine reading is confounded by the presence of high levels
of argon. Moreover, chlorine
does not form a positive ion in plasma form, a phenomenon that will also prevent
accurate readings.
While sodium can be tested for by ICPMS technology, I question the accuracy of
the readings in this case. National Medical Services appears to have its machine
calibrated to detect trace amounts of a wide range of elements for qualitative
purposes. For instance the machine was completely saturated and could not obtain
a reading for sodium even when the sample was diluted 10 to one. The only
readings that were obtained were in a sample that had been diluted 100 to one,
which would greatly magnify the effect of even the most minute of errors in the
dilution process. (By contrast the other methodologies tested chloride and
sodium in an undiluted sample.) In speaking with the technician who actually
conducted the analysis he suggested that ICPMS is. frequently used to
qualitatively determine what elements are present in a sample with actual
amounts quantitatively determined by other methodologies. He suggested that if
the readings were inconsistent with multiple readings by other methodologies
that the latter readings would probably be the more accurate.
The experts with whom I have discussed the issue are certainly more used to
relying on results obtained by machines such as the Hitachi and Beckman, and
indicated that their opinions were not affected by the aberrant readings
obtained on this one technology. If the case is pursued further I believe we
will need to contact an expert in this methodology to pursue these questions.
Allegations of tampering
As previously suggested there is no known natural process that will cause urea
to rise in a sample other than evaporation or sublimation. Since the suggestion
of evaporation is inconsistent with the relative stability of the vitreous
readings over a long period of time, the defense has implied in their deposition
of plaintiffs expert Calvin Bandt that MEO personnel intentionally doctored the
sample. This is ludicrous and does not deserve extended comment.
Dehydration as a factor in Thromboembolism
The defense has suggested that the thrombus and resulting embolism was caused by
trauma related to the traffic accident and not by dehydration. CSFSO submissions
to Dr. Wood argue that dehydration is not a risk factor for thrombus formation.
In support of this somewhat absolute claim, CSFSO supplied copies of texts and
articles which detail the factors that cart lead to deep venous thrombosis but
which do not specifically mention dehydration as a risk factor. Dehydration is
not a frequent factor in post surgical development of venous thrombosis as most
hospital patients are adequately hydrated. Therefore it is not always mentioned
as a specific risk factor. However, the primary mechanisms that cause thrombus
formation have been known for decades.
Conditions that increase the concentration of the clotting substances in the
blood, reduces blood flow or increases blood viscosity will predispose a patient
to a venous thrombus formation. Severe dehydration clearly reduces blood flow
and increases blood viscosity and is recognized in texts and research articles
as causative factor in thrombus formation.'-9
I have consulted with experts in nephrology, internal medicine, hematology and
gerontology and all have unequivocally indicated that the connection between
severe dehydration and thrombus formation is well recognized.
Destruction of Evidence
In a recently filed motion the defense has asserted that the Medical Examiner's
Office failed to follow its own policies and destroyed or allowed the
destruction of evidence by failing to adequately and timely test and preserve
samples of bodily fluids, releasing the body for cremation before a cause of
death had been determined, and destroying the autopsy notes
=9Bloom and Thomas, Haemostasis and Thrombosis, (1981) 610-622. Mammen,
Pathogenesis of Venous Thrombosis, 102 Chest 640s (1992). Massive Pulmonary
Embolism in a High School Wrestler 241 JamA 827 (1979). Influence of
Surface-Active Substances on the Flow Properties of Hyperosmolar Blood 13 Bibl.
Anat. 99 (1975). Song et al, Cerebral Thrombosis at Altitude, Aviation, Space
and Env Medicine, January 1986 at 71.
of Dr. Robert Davis. We have only begun to review the details of the motion, but
were certainly previously aware of a number of these potential criticisms.
Ordinarily, I do not believe that the destructive testing of evidence such as
the urine during the investigative stage of a case by an objective and qualified
lab presents a significant due process issue. However, destructive testing of
the urine sample after a written promise to preserve all evidence will, at a
minimum, cause embarrassment and yield additional impeachment of the Medical
Examiner's Office. This will be even more true if the destruction of the sample
was not caused from the necessity of testing but either from miscommunication or
the inadequacy of the procedures and containers used to preserve the sample.
Thus, whether or not any of these issues warrants serious consideration as
grounds for dismissal, all will be used to attack the credibility of our
essential forensic expert.
Roach Bites
Dr. Wood in her Inside Edition appearance suggested that some of the lesions on
Lisa's hands or extremities could be roach bites and in later press interviews
suggested that in fact they probably were roach bites. These statements
generated a considerable response from the Church, resulting in claims that
roaches do not bite living human beings. Wood's comments in this regard, if
proven false, therefore subject her to possible impeachment for making
unsubstantiated claims. On the other hand, if the claim is true, it would
suggest that the level of care received by Lisa was far less than suggested by
her caretakers testimony and bring the honesty of virtually all of their
investigative statements into question. Since roach bites would 'obviously be
unrelated to the cause of death or any great bodily harm Lisa suffered, this is
a less significant substantive issue in the criminal prosecution than in the
civil case.
The defense's assertion (made I believe in response to the press rather than to
our office) that roaches don't bite living breathing humans is clearly
incorrect. Reports dating back hundreds of years document roaches biting both
adults and children and, pathologists recognize that roaches are omnivorous
insects who will attack both living and dead human
flesh'°. The roaches' unspecialized mouth parts remove the keratin from the
outer layer of skin and can sometimes be confused with abusive injuries.
The plaintiff in the civil case has retained multiple board certified forensic
entomologists who have apparently reached the conclusion that marks on Lisa
represent roach bites. As a result of this information we attempted to confirm
whether any of the abrasions on Lisa's body could be proven beyond a reasonable
doubt to be premortem roach bites. We contacted a board certified forensic
entomologist (an apparently small group) who happened to work for the FBI
laboratory. While this expert was retraining in the behavioral sciences section
and no longer involved in entomological work he referred us to William Rodriguez
who is Chief Deputy Medical Examiner, Special Investigations, Office of the
Armed Forces Medical Examiner. Rodriguez, who has written and lectured
extensively on forensic issues, reviewed enlargements of autopsy of the
lesions/abrasions on Lisa's body. Rodriguez acknowledged that roaches do indeed
bite living and dead humans and that some of the marks could in fact be roach
bites, but did not feel he could render a definitive opinion in this case from
viewing only the photographs without having seen the body. Thus, it does not
appear that the issue of roach bees will be a significant source of affirmative
testimony in the criminal prosecution, nor does it appear that it will be a
source of significant impeachment of Dr. Wood.
Wood's Explanation of the Autopsy Changes
After the filing of charges but before the invocation of discovery, the
Church.invoked a Medical Examiner's policy that requires them to review
additional evidence to determine if a change in the cause of death or other
findings is appropriate. An extremely large volume of complex information was
forwarded to the Medical Examiner's Office for Dr. Wood's review through written
and oral submissions to her attorney. The Church had suggested that if forced to
litigate the issues, the proceedings would reveal information extremely damaging
to Wood's office and her career. Her appearance on national television had not
only damaged
3°See, e.g. Cockroach, The Omnivorous Scavenger 18 Am J For Med and Path 177
(1997).
her relationship with our office and left her more vulnerable to litigation
concerning the death certificate, but had also committed her to a detailed
forensic position, any modification of which would be professionally
embarrassing. Additionally, the :autopsy had not been personally performed by
Wood but by an antagonistic farmer employee who was now critical of her
conclusions. It is apparent that this unique set of circumstances coalesced to
put what Wood characterizes as tremendous pressure upon her and may have
impacted the quality of her judgment.
The decision to chance the death certificate and the autopsy report occurred
after Wood reviewed the slides and photographs of the thrombus and noticed
evidence of trauma than she had not seen before. She then had a phone
conversation with Dr. Joe Davis, the former Medical Examiner for Dade County to
seek his counsel about what to do. The details surrounding her decision to
change to death certificate and autopsy report remain confusing.
Her explanations concerning the reasoning behind the changes have been illogical
and -
inconsistent.
She vacillated in her conclusions even as she prepared the amended certificate.
After talking to Joe Davis she executed a notarized change in the death
certificate to accident and removed dehydration and bed rest as causative
factors. She then reconsidered that decision and resolved to change the manner
of death to homicide with dehydration listed as one of multiple factors and then
again changed her mind the next morning, deciding to follow Joe Davis' initial
advice. She finalized the changes by forwarding them to the appropriate agencies
and faxing copies to our office and to the defense.
The primary reason Wood articulated for changing her findings had nothing to do
. with the information submitted by the defense but was due to her realization
'that the microscopic slides of the popliteal vein and the photographs of the
muscle tissue surrounding it provided evidence of trauma to the area which could
explain the thrombus formation. She had no explanation for why she had not seen
this in any of her prior examinations of this material even though it had been
in her possession since Lisa's death." She suggested that
"In her most recent statement she suggests she was so focused on eliminating
trauma from the accident that she didn't consider trauma of more recent origin.
since it was possible that trauma alone could have caused the thrombus she could
not assign a finite portion of causation to dehydration and bed rest and
therefore chose to remove them. The risk factors for thrombus formation are
considered to be cumulative. While trauma may conceivably cause a thrombus on
its own, it is equally true, as reflected by Wood's initial conclusions, that
dehydration or immobility may cause a thrombus without trauma being present and
that trauma is frequently insufficient to cause such a clot without the presence
of other factors. Thus, in my opinion, the only apparent reason for giving
trauma priority as the cause of the thrombus is the aggressiveness with which
the defense would attack the alternative factors.
Wood somewhat acknowledged this by saying that she removed the dehydration
because it was subject to attack and because Joe Davis had advised her that in
his controversial cases he liked to take the middle ground that would not be
subject to dispute. Of course, Davis knew very little about the case and was
acting on her representations as to the presence or absence of trauma in the
area of the clot. Wood suggested to me that she believed that removing
dehydration would somehow strengthen the credibility of her conclusions.
Wood also cited the absence of ketones as a concern in removing dehydration as a
cause of death. Wood continued to assert, however, that the ketone issue did not
affect her opinion as to the severity of Lisa's dehydration or the degree or
duration of her symptoms. i Our other experts had difficulty with this
incongruity, and felt it was illogical to suggest that dehydration so profound
that it could have independently caused her death, could be present yet neither
contribute to thrombus formation nor hasten death once an embolus was thrown.
Moreover, since the only possible relevance of the absence of ketones was to
bring into question the severity of Lisa's dehydration, it made no sense to view
this issue as affecting dehydration's role as a causative factor in the death
but not its presence or severity.
Wood's inclusion of "history of traffic accident" as a causative factor in the
death was equally difficult to understand. She adamantly maintained that the
trauma to the popliteal area was recent and that the traffic accident had played
no role in the formation of the
thrombus .or the embolism that she believed killed Lisa. Rather, Wood asserted
that but for '
the traffic accident she would not have been taken to Morton Plant, and but for
her being I
taken to Morton Plant she would not have been released to the care of the
Scientologists and would therefore not have been kept at the Fort Harrison and
died. This is of course superficial and fallacious reasoning. There is no reason
to believe that if Lisa's "psychotic break" had occurred under other
circumstances she would not have been taken to a medical facility for evaluation
and every reason to believe that had her problem manifested itself in the
presence of her fellow scientologists that they would have handled it in a
similar fashion. One might just as well have argued that the fact that Lisa was
a Scientologist, lived in Clearwater or got out of bed that morning are causes
contributing to the death. To include so tenuous a causative factor while at the
same time removing dehydration, is simply illogical.
Wood's opinions have continued to fluctuate over time. I initially construed her
decision removing dehydration as a cause of death to obviously mean she did not
believe it to be causative factor. Subsequently, after my meeting With Joe
Davis, Wood suggested as had Davis that since Lisa's psychotic state caused her
to become dehydrated, "dehydration" was subsumed as a cause of death with the
term psychosis. Of course, disregarding the question of why, if it was included
in this fashion, it was necessary to change the death certificate to begin with,
the section in which psychosis is found lists "causes" contributing to the death
but not contributing to the immediate cause - the thrombus. Since Wood's primary
explanation at that time for dehydration being a factor in Lisa's death related
to its role in thrombus formation, this explanation also seemed illogical.
Wood had also indicated that the "ketone" issue had been solved based upon
references in Guyton's textbook on physiology that as malnutrition progresses
and fat stores are used up, the body switches back to metabolizing proteins and
ketones are no longer produced. In subsequent conversations with myself and Jim
Hellickson in March of this year, Wood qualified this statement suggesting that
Guyton's reference also indicated that the switch back to protein metabolism
would ordinarily occur weeks later in the starvation process than where Lisa
would have been. She had initial hesitation over whether absence of ketones
would prevent her making a causative link between dehydration and Lisa's death
from the thromboembolism. After considering the matter she concluded that it did
not and
expressed a definite opinion that dehydration was a causative factor that played
a significant role in the death of Lisa McPherson.
The most recent statement given by Wood represents yet another decided shift in
her opinion. She indicates she has doubts about the severity of Lisa's
dehydration and testified that dehydration "may of may not" have been a factor
in her death. Due to Wood's inconsistency and indecisiveness these issues cannot
be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
Wood's memory of events surrounding her decision is also flawed. In her recent
statement she could not recall details about the reasoning behind her decision
to change the death certificate nor the details of her conversation with Joe
Davis. She incorrectly remembers several conversations with me which are
inconsistent with her previous testimony, had things out of sequence, and was
inconsistent even during the statement itself. For instance at one point in the
statement she claimed that she had only very recently concluded that dehydration
was a causative factor in the death as a result of reading Bandt's deposition
from the civil case even though she had committed herself to that opinion on
multiple occasions over a month before Bandt's deposition was taken. At another
point in the same statement she claimed to have relied partially upon Bandt's
deposition (taken in May, 2000) as a basis for changing the death certificate on
February 16".
Thus Wood's current testimony creates a reasonable doubt both as to the severity
of Lisa's dehydration and whether that dehydration was a factor in her death-Her
inability to Wgically explain her opinions makes it Teas that she cannot
withstand cross examination in this case.
No evidence of dehydration
The defense submissions to Dr. Wood and their arguments to the' press and in .
pleadings suggest, as does Dr. Robert Davis, that there is no evidence of
dehydration. Even though, because of Wood's testimony doubt can be created
concerning its severity, the suggestion that there is no evidence of dehydration
is simply not accurate.
During Lisa's stay her failure to drink significant amounts of fluid was a
continuing concern of her caretakers and their reports back to Alain Kartuzinski
give substantial reason to fear that she was becoming dehydrated. CSFSO employee
Janis Johnson, a former doctor, told police that the evening of Lisa's death
before she was taken to the hospital, she
recognized from Lisa's skin turgor and sunken eyes that she was "majorly"
dehydrated. She had noted the previous Friday that Lisa was losing weight and
becoming dehydrated and recommended at least 2 liters of water a day be given to
her. (The notes do not reflect that this occurred but do indicate that Lisa
became too weak to walk over that weekend before her death). Dr. David Minkoff,
who treated Lisa at the emergency room, testified that Lisa appeared to be
severely dehydrated and that Johnson had told him that Lisa had lost significant
amounts of weight before her death." Other health professionals at the New Port
Richey hospital confirm that conclusion; at least one nurse had checked Lisa's
skin turgor and noted that it "tented" as would be expected in a seriously
dehydrated person.
The autopsy photographs, which depict food encrusted teeth, dried lips and
mucous membranes, and sunken eyes, have been viewed by other medical examiners,
nephrologists, and other clinical experts who agree that the appearance of her
body reflects significant dehydration. The clinical values from the vitreous of
sodium, chlorine, urea nitrogen and creatinine are all elevated consistent with
dehydration. These tests were performed multiple times on different machines
over a substantial period of time with the vitreous values consistently
indicating severe dehydration.
The Cause of Death
Wood and Robert Davis have now both concluded that the immediate cause of death
was a pulmonary embolism. Dr. Robert Davis in his civil deposition indicated
that he believed in looking at the embolism that it was well established, but on
microscopic examination it appeared more recent. Wood may have been present when
the embolism was viewed at autopsy but may not have been present when the leg
was opened and the thrombus i found in the left popliteal vein. While she
reviewed the slides taken from both the thrombus and embolism, she apparently
did not view either of these items in the tissues preserved from the autopsy.
How closely she looked at any of these items is open to debate, since she did
'zAccording to Minkoff, he talked with Johnson in the emergency room the night
of Lisa's death and she indicated she believed Lisa had lost 12 pounds that day.
Minkoff Statement at page 83.
not notice what she now believes to be the obvious evidence of trauma in either
the photographs or slides of the popliteal area.
Prior to the filing of the criminal case, Wood also consulted Steve Nelson,
Chief Medical Examiner in Polk County concerning the case. Nelson initially
agreed supported Wood's conclusions concerning the severity of dehydration and
its causative role in McPherson's death. After learning of her decision to alter
the death certificate, he reviewed the photographs and slides and believed that
any hemorrhage was consistent with being a result the autopsy process itself
rather than prior injury.
In reviewing the case, I consulted forensic pathologist Charles Wetli who had
initially been selected by Wood as a consulting expert, but did not get involved
in the case at that time. Wetli was Chief Deputy Medical Examiner in Dade County
and is now being the head Medical Examiner for Suffolk County New York. Wetli
reviewed a second set of histological slides and both sets of photographs and
also reviewed the autopsy, Davis' deposition and affidavit and the chemical test
results. Wetli requested to be able to fly down and view the original slides and
the tissues from the embolus and thrombus that were preserved from the autopsy.
He felt the second set of slides was of poor quality but he believed that the
embolus appeared to be post mortem and was not the cause of death. He showed the
slides to other pathologists Without telling them about the case and they voiced
the same conclusion.
After reviewing the original slides which are of much better quality and the
preserved tissues Wedi is confident that the clot is post mortem and not the
cause of death. While the popliteal thrombus may be ante-mortem, it is very
recent and in any event it did not contribute to the cause of death and could
not have been 17 days old. Therefore the only cause of death is dehydration.
Wetli is comfortable relying on the vitreous tests to establish the severity of
dehydration as that type of evidence is routinely used by medical examiners in
deciding cause of death. He has no detailed opinion as to how symptomatic Lisa
would have been as that is more the province of clinicians. He does not believe
ketones would be an issue in a dehydration case.
If Wetli, who is the only one of our consultants to actually review the tissue
samples, is right, his testimony would be supportive of the basis underlying the
prosecution. However, it would also indicate that our medical examiner is
completely erroneous in another major conclusion concerning the cause of death.
Such an error would be another major blow to the credibility of her remaining
conclusions in this case. To the extent Wetli might be incorrect in this
conclusion, it suggests that the medical reasoning underlying our case cannot be
established beyond a reasonable doubt.
Conclusion
I continue to feel comfortable that the legal principles set forth in our
responses to the Motions to Dismiss are valid and we are prepared, should a
similar death occur, to fully investigate and pursue charges, if appropriate,
against the responsible parties. The actions and testimony of Dr. Wood, a
forensic witness essential to the state's case, has so muddled the equities and
underlying facts in this case, however, that it has undermined what began as a
strong legal position.
While I believe many of the issues raised by the defense are incorrect and can
be successfully litigated, T do not believe the damage of contradictory and
harmful testimony of both the medical examiners involved in the case can be
overcome. The ability of Dr. Wood to testify authoritatively and credibly in
this case has been undermined by her own actions in changing the death
certificate and by her inability to persuasively explain that decision in a
manner that does not create doubt as to the forensic issues crucial to the case.
When these problems are combined with the reality that our own experts are in
significant disagreement with Wood on critical issues, including cause of death,
I do not believe that there is a reasonable probability of successful
prosecution. Realizing that our office's ethical obligation is not merely to
continue a prosecution based upon probable cause but to determine whether
sufficient credible evidence exists to prove the case beyond and to the
exclusion of a reasonable doubt, it is my recommendation that the charges be
nolle prossed.
The prosecutor did declare he will proceed no further after this memo |