In February 2007, guest speaker Dr. Michael Baden graced Bronx Science with a lecture on the history of the field of forensics with a focus on forensic pathology. Dr. Baden is a renowned medical examiner and is currently the chief forensic pathologist for the New York State Police. He has performed well over 20,000 autopsies � and Dr. Baden stopped counting over ten years ago! Dr. Baden has provided expert advice and testimony in various high profile cases, such as the O.J. Simpson trial, the assassination of JFK, the Kobe Bryant trial, and many others. In addition, Dr. Baden is the author of two nonfiction books, Unnatural Death, Confessions of a Medical Examiner and Dead Reckoning, the New Science of Catching Killers. His first book, Unnatural Death, served as the launching pad for his highly successful HBO series, Autopsy, which debuts a new episode this month. After his lecture, Dr. Baden graciously agreed to sit down with me to discuss his career, his experience in the media, and the profession of the pathologist.

     Dr. Baden modestly attributes his success as a forensic pathologist to the �little competition he has in the field�. Autopsies are performed by either coroners or medical. While medical examiners must be licensed pathologists to perform autopsies, coroners are elected officials at the local level and as a result may not be as accurate in determining cause and circumstances of death as a medical examiner would. According to Dr. Baden, in comparison to the thousands of pathologists in the nation, there are few forensic pathologists. Thus, he has performed so many autopsies because there aren�t many other forensic pathologists to share the load. However, not every decedent Dr. Baden autopsies is a murder victim; Dr. Baden says the most common causes of death he finds in his work are heart disease and cancer.

     Dr. Baden claims that he had an accidental involvement with pathology; he got into it because no one else was interested. There is still a certain societal shudder at the idea of working with the dead, especially cutting them open to see what�s inside. But Dr. Baden offered a less obvious reason to the lack of forensic pathologists in the nation. He believes that most doctors do not want to work for the government due to the low salary compared to having a private practice. Furthermore, as medical examiners may be autopsying a victim of a crime, there is a possibility of being called into court to testify regarding the autopsy findings. Many doctors loathe the idea of having to testify as an expert witness, and understandably so. Doctors do not want to have their reputations on the line as a defense or prosecution attorney attempts to attack their practices, methods, and knowledge in the profession to build their case. Dr. Baden has certainly experienced this as an expert witness in the courtroom. The media can also be particularly brutal when it comes to high profile cases. Dr. Baden�s policy with the media is �the less he talks to them, the better�.

     Despite this, Dr. Baden has gathered quite a following as the star of HBO�s America Undercover series Autopsy. He believes that the public has the right to know about medical examination and its results, and he saw the HBO series as an avenue to educate the public about the involvement of forensic science in criminal cases. The first Autopsy special, which debuted in 1994, was supposed to be the only Autopsy special, but due to its major success and audience reception, HBO decided to film more. It was through the Autopsy specials that I first became interested in forensic science, as it came out before the surge of forensics-centered television like CBS� CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and CourtTV�s Forensic Files. The series has further elevated the popularity of Dr. Baden, and there are many requests for Dr. Baden to look into inexplicable deaths of family and friends. Some of the Autopsy specials have an �Ask Dr. Baden� focus in which cases from viewer email requests are reviewed by the medical examiner himself. Dr. Baden sees the �Ask Dr. Baden� section of the HBO Autopsy website as a last resort option for desperate loved ones searching for answers. To qualify as a possible case for Dr. Baden to investigate on the HBO special, there must be sufficient information provided as well as a prosecutor willing to fight for the victim. Dr. Baden has had great dissatisfaction in cases where the evidence was strong but the prosecutor was unwilling to move forward, holding off such cases and preventing the family from gaining closure. In addition, Dr. Baden is greatly unhappy with medical examiners incorrectly dealing with a decedent, as what happened in the assassination of President Kennedy. Dr. Baden �cried over that autopsy�, saying that the body of JFK had been poorly examined and that vital piece of evidence had essentially been rendered useless, as it could not provide definitive answers about what had happened to President Kennedy.

     Perhaps what is most memorable about Dr. Baden is his graciousness and generosity. Despite his busy schedule and the fact that he is on call 24/7 (since a body can come in at any time of day), he takes time to come to Bronx Science every year to speak with students. He is genuinely interested in conversing with us; aside from my interview with him, I saw he also spoke with his student greeters for approximately thirty minutes before his lecture. His generous contributions to the Forensic Science program at Bronx Science are a testament to his desire for the education of students in the field. However, he is not saying that everyone should jump into forensic pathology or the field of forensic science, for that matter. Dr. Baden emphasizes that career paths need to be chosen after you know what you want to do, and the path of a forensic pathologist is a very difficult one. According to Dr. Baden, �Being in lab is a science, but being a pathologist is an art�.

     All information is based on the personal interview with Dr. Baden.