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October 2, 2023

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News Maryland News

New Law Will Close ‘Loophole’ in Appeals of Autopsy Findings

June 3, 2021 by Maryland Matters

Rev. Marguerite Morris fought for her daughter, Katherine Sarah Morris, for nearly a decade.

Katherine died in 2012 after charcoal grills were lit in her car. Marguerite Morris said she was a “victim of marital fraud, and worth $100,000 dead.”

Katherine’s manner of death was ruled a suicide. The cause: carbon monoxide toxicity.

Marguerite said there was no investigation.

“Katherine’s death certificate was signed on May 6, 2012,” she said before the House Health and Government Operations Committee in February. “She died May 6, 2012. Her death was ruled a suicide on May 6, 2012.”

Marguerite Morris submitted a request to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner asking that her daughter’s manner of death be changed to undetermined to allow for an investigation. But her request — and subsequent appeal — was denied.

She took the state to court three times and was finally granted an administrative hearing in 2020. But even then, she said, the state tried to put a halt to the proceedings, citing a decades-old inconsistency in the law.

A bill sponsored by Del. J. Sandra Bartlett (D-Anne Arundel), will fix that inconsistency.

Beginning Oct. 1, families can file an appeal to the secretary of the Department of Health if the chief medical examiner denies their request to change the manner of death on their loved one’s autopsy report.

The bill was enacted without a signature from Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) last weekend. Prior to its passage, Maryland law allowed only the cause of death to be appealed if requests were denied.

“I would … like to emphasize that the cause of death is not the manner,” Morris said. “The cause is scientific, and the manner is evidentiary.”

One successful appeal

The cause of death is a specific event, like asphyxiation or heart disease, that causes a person to die. Medical examiners can rule a manner of death as an accident, suicide, homicide, natural causes or undetermined.

After the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner files its conclusions on the cause and manner of death, families have a 60-day window to request that they be corrected if they feel there are inconsistencies.

Homicide rulings are not able to be disputed.

Should the chief medical examiner rebuff the request, under Bartlett’s bill, families can appeal to the secretary of the health department, who can grant an administrative hearing.

If an administrative law judge determines that the cause or manner of death should be changed and the secretary of health declines to do so, families can appeal to the circuit court.

Dr. David Fowler was the chief medical examiner at the time of Katherine’s death. He served as acting chief medical examiner in 2001 before taking the position permanently in 2002.

He left the role in 2019.

According to Maryland Department of Health spokesman Charles Gischlar, 22 appeals to have the cause or manner of death on an autopsy report changed were filed from 2001 to 2019. Only one appeal was successful.

Fowler, a controversial figure, is currently a defendant in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Anton Black, a 19-year-old who died in police custody in 2018 in Greensboro. Black’s manner of death was ruled an accident.

Attorney General Brian E. Frosh (D), who announced in April that his office plans to audit in-custody death determinations made under Fowler, has received criticism for representing him in the lawsuit filed by Black’s family.

In a phone interview, Sonia Kumar, a senior staff attorney for the ACLU of Maryland, said that Black’s family did not submit a request to change the findings of Anton’s autopsy report, and she’s unaware how the ability to do so is communicated to the bereaved.

“My guess is that a lot of families aren’t even made aware of it,” Kumar said.

“A loophole”

Government agencies have been aware of the inconsistency in appeals since the law was enacted in 1992.

In a May 1992 letter to Gov. William Donald Schaefer (D), former Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. (D) suggested that these “apparent inconsistencies be resolved next session in clarifying legislation.”

But they weren’t until Bartlett successfully sponsored the bill this year.

Marguerite Morris said that the state has used the inconsistency against her.

“It was about a word that was missing that the state was using as a loophole” to deny me an administrative hearing, she said during a phone interview Tuesday.

But Morris has seen success in 2021: An administrative law judge issued the opinion that Katherine’s manner of death be changed from suicide to undetermined in March.

The state is appealing this ruling at a hearing later this month.

Morris was also relieved to learn that Hogan will allow the law to go into effect without his signature.

“I’m glad to hear that, that was really, really good news to hear,” she said. “That law that is now being enacted … will help other families.”

But her fight isn’t over. Morris said that she hopes to work with legislators during the 2022 session to have the 60-day time limit on requests to change autopsy reports repealed.

“It’s just so unfair because you just don’t have answers that quickly,” she said.

Kumar agrees.

“There’s this way in which, to me, it feels unreasonable to put the burden on the family — particularly in such a short time period,” she said. “They may be disturbed by the [Office of the Chief Medical Examiner’s] conclusion but may not be aware how far-reaching the consequences are of those … conclusions.”

By Hannah Gaskill

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Filed Under: Maryland News Tagged With: Appeal, autopsy, cause of death, chief medical examiner, manner of death, Maryland, medical examiner, state health department

Former Md. Chief Medical Examiner Appears as Defense Witness in Chauvin Trial

April 15, 2021 by Maryland Matters

Maryland’s former chief medical examiner testified Wednesday as a defense witness during the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

Dr. David Fowler, who retired in 2019, is a defendant in a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of Anton Black, a 19-year-old killed in police custody in 2018 after being subdued on the ground for six minutes in Greensboro.

According to an autopsy report published by The Baltimore Sun, Fowler ruled Black’s death an accident, stating that sudden cardiac death with factors contributed by Black’s diagnosis of bipolar disorder was the cause.

Sonia Kumar, a senior staff attorney for the ACLU of Maryland, criticized Fowler’s testimony.

Kumar said Fowler downplayed “the role of police actions in causing a death,” in the cases of Floyd and Black.

“Dr. Fowler is again ignoring plain evidence in the killing of a Black man who would be alive but for the actions of other people because those people were police. Medical examiners hugely impact our ability to end police violence,” she said in a statement. “When medical examiners and others downplay the role of police actions in causing a death, they are both protecting police and hiding information that could prevent avoidable deaths. That is exactly what happened in the police killing of Anton Black, and other Black people in Maryland. We hope that ends now.”

“Under Dr. Fowler’s leadership, the Maryland Office of the Medical Examiner has been complicit in creating false narratives about what kills Black people in police encounters, including Tyrone West, Tawon Boyd, Anton Black, and too many others,” Kumar said in a statement.

“The medical examiner’s office ruled that Anton Black’s death was not a homicide even though video showed police chase him, tase him, and pin him face down to the ground after he was handcuffed and at which point he stopped breathing,” Kumar said. “The medical examiner blamed Anton for his own death — peppering its report with false claims about laced drugs, a heart condition, and even Anton’s bipolar disorder — instead of the police who killed him.”

Chauvin faces murder charges for the death of George Floyd, who died on May 25 in police custody; witness videos showed Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nearly 9 minutes.

Floyd’s official cause of death on his death certificate prepared by Dr. Andrew M. Baker, the Hennepin County chief medical examiner, was ruled a homicide. He died of cardiopulmonary arrest caused by “law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression,” according to the report.

Heart conditions, “fentanyl intoxication” and “recent methamphetamine use” were listed as other contributing conditions.

Fowler said he believes that recent drug use and potential carbon monoxide poisoning from vehicle exhaust “contributed to Mr. Floyd having sudden cardiac arrest.”

“In my opinion, Mr. Floyd had a sudden cardiac arrhythmia due to his atherosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease — you can write that down multiple different ways — during his restraint and subdual by the police. And then his significant contributory conditions would be … the fentanyl and methamphetamine,” Fowler told the court Wednesday.

“There is exposure to a vehicle exhaust — so potentially carbon monoxide poisoning … and the other natural disease process that he has. So all of those combined to cause Mr. Floyd’s death.”

Medical witnesses called by the prosecution earlier in the trial testified that any potential contributing factors were irrelevant and that Floyd died because of Chauvin’s actions.

The appearance of Fowler at Chauvin’s trial comes on the heels of the end of Maryland’s 2021 legislative session, where lawmakers worked to enact sweeping police reform legislation inspired by national outrage at Floyd’s death.

The General Assembly presented five reform bills to Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) — two of which he allowed to become law without his signature.

He vetoed the remaining three, including Anton’s Law, named in honor of Black, which will regulate the execution of search warrants and allow officer misconduct records to be disclosed to the public.

“When 19-year-old Anton Black was tragically killed … I was among the first to call for full transparency and answers for his family from law enforcement and the medical examiner’s office. I support updating procedures to executing search warrants and the disclosure of investigatory and personnel records,” Hogan wrote in his veto letter, in which he said the changes proposed by the legislature were too restrictive. “As amended, these provisions place the officers’ safety at risk, erode officers’ relationships with the residents of our most vulnerable communities, and deter witness participation in the prosecution of violent crimes.”

The legislature overrode Hogan’s vetoes to the police reform package Saturday.

The bill’s sponsors Sen. Jill P. Carter (D-Baltimore City) and Del. Gabriel Acevero (D-Montgomery) have worked with the Black family over the course of several years to enact this legislation. And while they hail its passage as a win, both said more reforms are needed.

“While passage of this legislation won’t bring Anton back nor will it heal the pain of his family and community, with Anton’s Law we’ve moved a step closer to building community trust by ensuring transparency, which is critical to holding law enforcement as well as agencies accountable,” Acevero said in a statement. “As historic as the passage of Anton’s Law is, there’s more work to be done, and don’t plan on resting any time soon.”

By Hannah Gaskill

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Filed Under: Maryland News Tagged With: anton black, autopsy, derek chauvin, dr. david fowler, George Floyd, medical examiner

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