Medical examiner alleges Massachusetts harvests organs from the undead
By DAVID BERNSTEIN | March 3, 2006
Medical examiner Abraham Philip alleges in a Suffolk Superior Court lawsuit that the Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) severed his contract because he was acting as a whistleblower. Through this lawsuit, Philip gets to air all of his claims — some subtle, some macabre. In these select pages from a recent motion in the case, Philip demands answers from the OCME — and, given past revelations about that office, including mishandling of body parts and fraudulent contract bidding, one can’t help but wonder whether OCME really is trying to hide something.
Philip alleges that OCME failed to conduct toxicology studies on the elderly and infirm; OCME has declined to reveal the number of nursing-home deaths it conducted such studies on. Philip alleges that OCME failed to conduct toxicology studies for illicit drugs like Ecstasy; OCME has declined to reveal the number of such investigations it performed. Philip also claims that OCME harvested organs from accident victims who were not yet brain-dead; OCME says that never happened.
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, Suffolk Superior Court, Criminal Trials, Trials
