DC's Chief Medical Examiner Has Some Crazy Stories - Washingtonian

If, God forbid, you should dice a non-­natural decease successful the District of Columbia—homicide, suicide, overdose, car crash—you volition apt extremity up successful the attraction of DC’s main aesculapian examiner, Francisco Diaz. A gangly antheral successful a acheronian suit, Diaz is an adept successful autopsies: He says he’s astir apt performed 10,000 of them successful his career. His table is simply a messiness of integrative skeletons and autopsy reports, and his business-card holder is simply a exemplary of a quality jaw. Diaz’s office, successful a glassy gathering conscionable southbound of the Mall, sits supra a warren of sterile-looking rooms—an autopsy installation with theatre seating for teaching, a biosafety country wherever pathologists successful protective suits enactment connected infectious corpses, and a acold country wherever the bodies are stored.

Diaz keeps this exemplary of a quality jaw connected his table arsenic a paper holder.

A autochthonal of the Dominican Republic, Diaz came to the United States successful 1995 for specialized grooming successful pathology and decided to stay. He has since worked for aesculapian examiners’ offices successful some Philadelphia and Wayne County, Michigan (which includes Detroit). In 2017, Diaz became the District’s lawman main aesculapian examiner and aesculapian director, and helium took implicit arsenic main successful January 2021. We spoke astir his hard enactment during the Covid pandemic, however helium handles politicized cause-of-death calls, and wherefore TV depictions of autopsies are truthful bad.

How did you get into this enactment of work?

I was ever attracted to autopsies. They’re a conveyance to beforehand science. If you look astatine the contented of performing autopsies, I deliberation it was paramount to advancing the cognition of anatomy and physiology, surgery, interior medicine, and however the organs work. So ever since I was successful aesculapian school, I wanted to go a forensic pathologist.

What bash you similar astir forensic pathology?

I deliberation it’s much absorbing than immoderate different aesculapian specialty. Some are much routine—day successful and time out, they spot fundamentally the aforesaid thing. In forensic pathology, you person a constellation of things. If it’s not homicides, it’s thing that could beryllium a imaginable homicide. Is it a termination oregon not a suicide? At property 38, a diligent collapses connected the street; astatine archetypal you deliberation it was a bosom attack, but it turns retired to beryllium a encephalon tumor that the diligent was ne'er diagnosed with. So it brings challenges.

You were moving successful DC for each of Covid. What was that like?

It was an acquisition that is hard to enactment into words. At slightest astatine the precise beginning, you didn’t spot a airy astatine the extremity of the tunnel. In a azygous day, you are utilized to having six decedents coming in. Then [when the pandemic hit], the adjacent time determination are 25. And the adjacent day, 27. The adjacent day, 40. We were present each azygous day—every azygous day—because that’s the lone mode you tin manage.

And, of course, we enactment with quality beings. People [who enactment successful the aesculapian examiner’s office] are acrophobic if they’re going to get contaminated. At the precise beginning, we didn’t know—are the decedents contagious oregon not? They are not. But that’s a interest that we had.

What was the day-to-day enactment like?

When radical were pronounced dormant astatine hospitals oregon died astatine home, we went to prime up the decedents. We person a Biosafety Level 3 suite, and that’s wherever we did the swabs [to trial for Covid]. We opened an alternate morgue tract that had refrigerated trucks for a fewer months. It was precise intense. It took each the effort of each and each worker present for that play of time. As an agency, I deliberation we did a singular job. Because if you spot what happened successful different places, you volition spot however decedents were accumulating successful the hallways, successful retention facilities, adjacent successful U-Hauls. And that didn’t hap successful the District astatine all. There were nary mishaps—no releasing the incorrect body. We’re precise arrogant of the enactment of each and each employee. They enactment their bosom and psyche into it. Everybody present was committed to the mission.

Every erstwhile successful a while, you person to marque a telephone that’s politicized—like determining the origin of decease of Capitol Police serviceman Brian Sicknick, who died aft protecting the Capitol connected January 6. I’m funny what it’s similar to beryllium making a aesculapian telephone erstwhile everyone other is reasoning astir it politically.

As you stated correctly, it’s a aesculapian call. It’s for the purposes of public-health statistics. As a aesculapian examiner, you cannot beryllium reasoning each the clip that if I bash X determination, past there’s going to beryllium fallout. It comes with the territory.

That’s what makes forensic pathology, oregon being a aesculapian examiner, stressful for a batch of people. Because arsenic opposed to different aesculapian fields, determination is nary affirmative feedback. So you tin beryllium a surgeon and enactment a cardinal hours a week, but you whitethorn get the feedback “Thank you, doctor, for redeeming my brother’s life.” As a forensic pathologist, you don’t get that call. You’re not going to archer me, “Great occupation you did connected the autopsy of my Uncle Joey.” You’re not going to accidental that.

What benignant of feedback bash you get?

More often than not, it’s negative. If I determine an autopsy has to beryllium performed, the household whitethorn beryllium up successful arms: “You’re going to chopped her up!” Or the other happens—if I determine an autopsy is not necessary, they’re not happy, due to the fact that they privation X oregon Y. If we spell and testify, the authoritative would similar you to accidental thing that benefits them, but the defence lawyer would similar you to accidental thing that benefits them, right? So we are successful the mediate of each that fire. And if you are not [focused] successful your mission, that deficiency of affirmative feedback tin deterioration you down.

I’m funny astir TV and movie depictions of forensic pathology. Are determination immoderate that basal retired arsenic peculiarly close oregon peculiarly bad?

In my opinion, they are each bad. They person 1 bully thing, which is that they get young radical funny successful science. But immoderate they represent is not accurate.

What bash you spot that isn’t accurate?

Like, everything. So I don’t ticker them unless I privation a bully laugh. A transgression happens, and they lick it wrong 40 minutes—they person instantaneous answers for everything. You know, like, you were here, you near a hairsbreadth there, you enactment it done a machine, and past you person answers. And depicting an autopsy—I mean, they conscionable enactment an electrical saw done the hair! You request to portion the hairsbreadth first. But they conscionable enactment the electrical saw close there. Imagine if you person a batch of hair—there’s nary electrical saw that is going to spell done that. Just an example.

I work determination that pathologists sometimes drawback colds from corpses. Is that true?

No, dormant radical bash not breathe, truthful that means they don’t aerosolize. What you tin drawback is things from the blood, if you chopped yourself. Let’s accidental you gully humor and past you puncture yourself. You person a accidental of contaminating yourself.

You could besides get tuberculosis from a decedent, due to the fact that the electrical saw could aerosolize things. So that’s wherefore we don’t usage electrical saws to chopped the ribs—we usage shears. Meningitis you tin get. Meningitis is contagious. So if you unfastened a cranial cavity and determination is bacterial meningitis and you’re not utilizing the due protection, you tin get it.

Have you ever chopped yourself?

I person ne'er chopped myself. [Knocks connected the wood table.] I wage attention. When I was precise young, a surgeon told me, “I don’t respect pathologists, due to the fact that they don’t respect the scalpel.” And that was perfectly true. Pathologists speech with a scalpel—like, hey. [Waves his manus astir similar he’s cutting wildly.] But surgeons person an implicit respect for the scalpel, and that’s the champion proposal I’ve ever gotten. I ever cognize wherever my sharps are. They are not nether something. That’s wherever radical get cut—they’re going to drawback thing and boom!

Is determination immoderate lawsuit that stands retired arsenic being the astir antithetic successful your career?

Yes, I had a lawsuit that was precise unusual. In 2012, I was the aesculapian examiner that responded to the Detroit Metropolitan Airport due to the fact that antithetic national agencies—customs, the CDC, and the FBI—were pursuing a fig of radical that were trafficking successful assemblage parts.

Oh, similar selling organs?

Selling assemblage parts, not organs. Like heads, hands.

What’s the marketplace for that?

For acquisition purposes.

Oh.

The crushed we were called was that 8 heads came from Israel. You’re excessively young, but determination was a movie that wasn’t bully with Joe Pesci. It’s called 8 Heads successful a Duffel Bag. Well, that’s what we found—there were 8 heads successful containers. Do you cognize what helium utilized arsenic a preservative? It was mouthwash. That’s wherefore they were decomposing.

We took jurisdiction of the heads, and I thought that was going to beryllium the extremity of it. But the FBI followed up, and [in 2013] we were portion of a squad that raided a warehouse successful Detroit. At the extremity of that operation, we recovered 1,200 heads and different specimens. That progressive millions of dollars, due to the fact that a assemblage could merchantability for possibly $100,000. That’s what I was told.

Wait, were aesculapian schools buying amerciable assemblage parts?

They didn’t cognize they were illegal, oregon that they were acquired illegally. A batch of [the specimens] were contaminated with HIV oregon hepatitis. The full process took years. It was a immense operation. That was astir apt the astir absorbing lawsuit I’ve been progressive with, due to the fact that I wasn’t expecting that.

You regularly woody with atrocious stuff. Does that alteration however you spot the world?

It does, successful a way. You person what the French telephone “professional deformation.” That means that you spot the satellite based connected your profession. As a physician, you look astatine idiosyncratic and say, “Well, this person’s colour is not good. This idiosyncratic whitethorn person liver disease.” So that’s an example. I thin to presumption the satellite similar that.

It’s hard to pull radical to the field, due to the fact that immoderate radical cannot bash autopsies time successful and time out. I mean, I cannot ticker movies with torture. I don’t similar fearfulness movies. Some radical that privation to bash this work—they deliberation it’s cool. But it takes a toll. It changes you.

This nonfiction appears successful the December 2022 contented of Washingtonian.