https://www.audacy.com/wwjnewsradio/news/national/forensic-pathologist-werner-spitz-dies

Well-known Metro Detroit medical examiner Dr. Werner Spitz has
died at age 97, according to Spitz's family.

Known for his inimitable accent, endless energy, deep forensic
knowledge and expert skills that had him testifying at more than
one 'trial of the century,' Spitz was most recently a professor at
Wayne State University.

Spitz stayed in the public eye even as he approached 100 years
old, most notably when he was featured in a CBS show "The Case of:
JonBenet Ramsey" in 2016 where he identified the child's killer as
her brother Burke.

Spitz was sued by Ramsey's older brother after naming him, and
settled a defamation suit brought by the family before it went to
trial. [...]

[Forensic analysis of a conversation in a telephone left off the hook
pretty well confirms that the older brother was responsible. - JD]

Personal recollection to be posted in a follow-up to this note.
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone objects to any statement I make, I am
_|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
\ / baldwin@panix.com|to deny under oath that I ever made it.-T. Lehrer
***~~~~----------------------------------------------------------------------

So, I don't mention this much, but I have been a fire/EMS responder
for going on 25 years, on and off. And for a while there, I had a
role on a response team at a scarily large industrial site in my home
city in southwest Michigan. The company paid for annual attendance at
the state EMS organization's "EMS Expo," a conference, training
opportunity and vendor expo that was always held in Grand Rapids.

One year, they decided to move it to the big Greektown convention
center in Detroit. As it turned out, attendance at the event was
maybe 1/3 of a typical year in GR. It was a disaster. But the event
went forward, and I was there.

One of the training / continuing education "courses" was a "live
autopsy" in the Wayne County Morgue. Being a morbid SOB (stop me when
I say something surprising to you), I signed up. I'd been to cadaver
"labs," but a cadaver is *nothing* like an actual un-formalin'ed body.
So this would be a new experience.

Well, I expected to sit in a small set of bleachers while someone came
in and dissected the body "over there" on a table maybe 25 feet away.
(There was a sheet covering what was obviously a body on the table
already.)

Imagine my shock when Werner-freaking-Spitz and his trusty long-time
assistant Diane Lucke! I had no idea he'd be doing the "class" -- I
simply hadn't read the description closely enough, because he was
named as the pathologist who would do the autopsy. I knew who he was,
mainly from JonBenet Ramsey coverage; I believe we even discussed him
in a.o. a few times.

Well, he had us crowd round the table where he introduced himself and
Diane and said, in his heavy German-Israeli accent, "Now I will
uncover the body. And so, as you have all seen on television, one of
you will have to ... ?" He waited for the answer. Someone said,
"Faint?" And he said, "Yes, very good, someone will have to scream
and faint." Then he yanked the sheet off and no one fainted.

I had taken up residence at the head and I got to "help" Diane with
the bone saw as Dr. Spitz walked her, and us, through the procedure.
He passed around lungs, the heart, other structures.

Diane announced that it was perfectly okay to take pictures. So out
came 25 phones and snapped away. Ten minutes later, a lady from the
office came in and said, "I understand some of you are taking
pictures. You can't do that. Please delete them." There was a
general murmur of assent.

You can guess what I did. I would never post the unedited photo
publicly (if you meet me, you may ask to see it but I won't give you a
copy), but I've smeared out all the gross bits and some faces:

https://www.panix.com/~baldwin/ws.png

After 90 minutes of autopsy training, we de-robed, washed up and went
to an auditorium where we were treated to an absolutely fascinating
slide presentation. Then there were snacks. No, I'm not making up
the snacks.

I got to chat with "Werner," as he insisted I call him, for maybe ten
minutes before clearing out. For the rest of the conference, I was
all HOLY CRAP I GOT TO DO AN AUTOPSY WITH WERNER SPITZ. Still get
excited at the memory.
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone objects to any statement I make, I am
_|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
\ / baldwin@panix.com|to deny under oath that I ever made it.-T. Lehrer
***~~~~----------------------------------------------------------------------

J.D. Baldwin <news@baldwin.users.panix.com> wrote:

>So, I don't mention this much, but I have been a fire/EMS responder
>for going on 25 years, on and off. And for a while there, I had a
>role on a response team at a scarily large industrial site in my home
>city in southwest Michigan. The company paid for annual attendance at
>the state EMS organization's "EMS Expo," a conference, training
>opportunity and vendor expo that was always held in Grand Rapids.

>One year, they decided to move it to the big Greektown convention
>center in Detroit. As it turned out, attendance at the event was
>maybe 1/3 of a typical year in GR. It was a disaster. But the event
>went forward, and I was there.

>One of the training / continuing education "courses" was a "live
>autopsy" in the Wayne County Morgue. Being a morbid SOB (stop me when
>I say something surprising to you), I signed up. I'd been to cadaver
>"labs," but a cadaver is *nothing* like an actual un-formalin'ed body.
>So this would be a new experience.

>Well, I expected to sit in a small set of bleachers while someone came
>in and dissected the body "over there" on a table maybe 25 feet away.
>(There was a sheet covering what was obviously a body on the table
>already.)

>Imagine my shock when Werner-freaking-Spitz and his trusty long-time
>assistant Diane Lucke! I had no idea he'd be doing the "class" -- I
>simply hadn't read the description closely enough, because he was
>named as the pathologist who would do the autopsy. I knew who he was,
>mainly from JonBenet Ramsey coverage; I believe we even discussed him
>in a.o. a few times.

>Well, he had us crowd round the table where he introduced himself and
>Diane and said, in his heavy German-Israeli accent, "Now I will
>uncover the body. And so, as you have all seen on television, one of
>you will have to ... ?" He waited for the answer. Someone said,
>"Faint?" And he said, "Yes, very good, someone will have to scream
>and faint." Then he yanked the sheet off and no one fainted.

Hahahahaha

That is a reference to the first episode of Quincy, M.E. "Go Fight City
Hall... to the Death!" from NBC Mystery Movie, 10/3/1978. Uh, humor.
Quincy was not interested in teaching a bunch of police cadets but
getting back to investigating this episode's main mystery. They all
fainted as he performed the autopsy as quickly as possible. Gee, I hope
he didn't miss anything important. A clip from this scene was used on
the opening titles for years when it became a weekly 60-minute series.

>I had taken up residence at the head and I got to "help" Diane with
>the bone saw as Dr. Spitz walked her, and us, through the procedure.
>He passed around lungs, the heart, other structures.

>Diane announced that it was perfectly okay to take pictures. So out
>came 25 phones and snapped away. Ten minutes later, a lady from the
>office came in and said, "I understand some of you are taking
>pictures. You can't do that. Please delete them." There was a
>general murmur of assent.

>You can guess what I did. I would never post the unedited photo
>publicly (if you meet me, you may ask to see it but I won't give you a
>copy), but I've smeared out all the gross bits and some faces:

> https://www.panix.com/~baldwin/ws.png

I wanted to see him holding the heart.

>After 90 minutes of autopsy training, we de-robed, washed up and went
>to an auditorium where we were treated to an absolutely fascinating
>slide presentation. Then there were snacks. No, I'm not making up
>the snacks.

I would have skipped the snacks.

>I got to chat with "Werner," as he insisted I call him, for maybe ten
>minutes before clearing out. For the rest of the conference, I was
>all HOLY CRAP I GOT TO DO AN AUTOPSY WITH WERNER SPITZ. Still get
>excited at the memory.

Great story; thanks

In the previous article, Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
> That is a reference to the first episode of Quincy, M.E. "Go Fight
> City Hall... to the Death!" from NBC Mystery Movie, 10/3/1978. Uh,
> humor. Quincy was not interested in teaching a bunch of police
> cadets but getting back to investigating this episode's main
> mystery. They all fainted as he performed the autopsy as quickly as
> possible. Gee, I hope he didn't miss anything important. A clip from
> this scene was used on the opening titles for years when it became a
> weekly 60-minute series.

Probably the clip is responsible for the trope of a one-time media
happening being widely thought of as a cliché. Much like "Fortunate
Son" being played over action scenes in Vietnam movies.

> > https://www.panix.com/~baldwin/ws.png
>
> I wanted to see him holding the heart.

He did pass around the heart, lungs and liver. (By the time he was
passing around organs, the "no photos" directive had been issued, and
I didn't quite have the nerve to violate it at that point.) There is
no passing around a "fresh" brain, as it kind of semi-liquifies. (I
had held brains from *cadaver* labs, which hold their shape pretty
well.) Anyway, it was cool.

> >After 90 minutes of autopsy training, we de-robed, washed up and
> >went to an auditorium where we were treated to an absolutely
> >fascinating slide presentation. Then there were snacks. No, I'm
> >not making up the snacks.
>
> I would have skipped the snacks.

The snack table was not, shall we say, mobbed.
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone objects to any statement I make, I am
_|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
\ / baldwin@panix.com|to deny under oath that I ever made it.-T. Lehrer
***~~~~----------------------------------------------------------------------

With apologies to Smoky Robinson, I'll second Sir Kerman's emotion as to what a great story you told, J.D. !

MEANWHILE: Like yourself, Sir Baldwin, I'm unapologetically fascinated by what goes on in county morgues. Alas, I've only actually toured but one, though several times during 1989-91. But if you're only gonna see one, why not make it the legendary Los Angeles County Morgue, where Thomas Noguchi and all his successive Coroners to the Stars do their curious professional thing?

You see, while paralegally toiling for various West L.A. law firms (between trying to get my moribund radio career rolling again), I'd shoot up my hand anytime some occasional case required an office errand down there. (Incidentally, that morgue is a sprawling complex as you'd of course expect, but I WASN'T expecting to be largely underground; above it lies the hulking edifice of the old Los Angeles County Medical Center, a structure seen by housewives every weekday for decades on ABC in that iconic "General Hospital" graphic.)

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
======
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_General_Medical_Center