Siebert Autopsy Review
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Posted: 3:48 PM Aug 7, 2006
Siebert Autopsy Review
Several autopsies handled by local medical examiner Dr. Charles Siebert's staff are going under a microscope later this week.
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Several autopsies handled by local medical examiner Dr. Charles Siebert's staff are going under a microscope later this week.

The Florida Medical Examiner’s Commission will hear a report this Wednesday, as to whether Dr. Siebert mishandled several autopsies.

Attorney General Charlie Crist requested the commission investigate Siebert's actions in April, specifying at least three autopsies.

Fifty-five-year-old James Madison Terry and his daughter Donna Faye Terry Reed, 35, were killed by a tornado spawned by Hurricane Ivan in September 2004.

Reed's autopsy report stated her prostate gland and testes were unremarkable. Women do not have those organs. Terry's report failed to mention some major wounds.

Siebert has since said that mistake was a clerical error in which two reports got typed on top of each other.

The report investigation did not include Siebert's autopsy of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson, who died January 6, a day after he was hit and kneed by Bay County Boot-Camp Drill Instructors.

According to Chairman Dr. Stephen Nelson, the commission, which will meet in Jupiter, will hear the results of an audit of Siebert's office and every autopsy he oversaw.

"We will discuss those findings," Nelson said.

In Anderson's autopsy, Siebert ruled that the Panama City teenager died from the sickle-cell trait, but a second autopsy released by Hillsborough County Medical Examiner Dr. Vernard Adams reported that he died from suffocation from having ammonia tablets stuffed in his nose and his mouth covered by guards.

Attorney General Crist’s request did not include the Anderson autopsy because Hillsborough State Attorney Mark Ober is still investigating that case.

Nelson said the commission may recommend what, if any, punishment should be levied against Siebert. The Bay County medical examiner can either agree to the recommendation or have an administrative hearing to contest it.

Headlines - msnbc.com