Read Pluto Walks the Earth, Chapter 52: Grieving Widow
Dr. Salazar
The fellow from the newspaper asks me, “Dr. Salazar, is this is an unusual case?” Ay, ay. I say like my granddaughter would: “It’s the unusualest.”
First let me tell you, this is not like Denver or Albuquerque. The medical examiner in Rio Arriba doesn’t see much activity. Most of the cases within my jurisdiction are MVAs and DOAs. A DOA is a death by any means where there is little or no medical intervention, usually a senior who dies at home. When the individual dies alone, and days elapse before the body is discovered, it is very unpleasant to deal with. I’ll leave it at that. There are times when someone passes away in a hospital of violent trauma and I’m required to determine if physical assault or some other unnatural cause contributed to death; it happens. It is one of the most challenging duties for coroners. We obviously must be detached from human relationships and we must have what you call critical distance from the events, but we can’t always be immune to the drama when, for example, someone in the grieving family has by negligence or malice caused the injuries leading to death. This arouses bad feelings. I have been called every name in the book, and worse.