External links
- Article on the work of an FME in PULSE Archived 2019-12-05 at the Wayback Machine (General practitioners' online magazine)
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Force Medical Examiner or Forensic Medical Examiner (FME) is any doctor used by the police in the United Kingdom. There are usually multiple doctors utilized by a police force, and the FME is the one who happens to be on call. Qualified doctors serving as FMEs generally serve as part of a regional pool for the police stations in their area.
The police may call upon the services of an FME for several different reasons, the most common of which include:
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Forensic pathology is pathology that focuses on determining the cause of death by examining a corpse. A post mortem examination is performed by a medical examiner or forensic pathologist, usually during the investigation of criminal law cases and civil law cases in some jurisdictions. Coroners and medical examiners are also frequently asked to confirm the identity of remains.
A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death. The official may also investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within the coroner's jurisdiction.
A TASER is a conducted energy device (CED) primarily used to incapacitate people, allowing them to be approached and handled in an unresisting and thus less-lethal manner. Sold by Axon, formerly TASER International, the TASER fires two small barbed darts intended to puncture the skin and remain attached to the target until removed by the user of the TASER device, at a speed of 55 m/s. Their range extends from 4.5 m (15 ft) for non-Law Enforcement Tasers to 10.5 m (34 ft) for Law Enforcement Tasers. The darts are connected to the main unit by thin laquer insulated copper wire and deliver a modulated electric current designed to disrupt voluntary control of muscles, causing "neuromuscular incapacitation." The effects of a taser may only be localized pain or strong involuntary long muscle contractions, based on the mode of use and connectivity of the darts.
FME may refer to:
Pharmaceutical marketing is a branch of marketing science and practice focused on the communication, differential positioning and commercialization of pharmaceutical products, like specialist drugs, biotech drugs and over-the-counter drugs. By extension, this definition is sometimes also used for marketing practices applied to nutraceuticals and medical devices.
Lisa McPherson was an American Scientologist who died in the care of the Church of Scientology in Clearwater, Florida. After a minor traffic accident where McPherson seemed unharmed, she removed her clothes in the street and paramedics transported her to a local hospital. In order to avoid psychiatric intervention, local Scientologists convinced her to leave the hospital and seek care at the nearby Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization (FSO). There she was held against her will for 17 days without any medical care, while her physical and mental condition rapidly deteriorated and she died. Following the report by the state medical examiner that indicated that McPherson was a victim of negligent homicide, FSO was indicted on two felony charges, "abuse and/or neglect of a disabled adult" and "practicing medicine without a license." The charges were dropped after the state's medical examiner changed the cause of death from "undetermined" to an "accident" on June 13, 2000. A civil suit brought by McPherson's family was settled on May 28, 2004.
The use of force, in the context of law enforcement, may be defined as the "amount of effort required by police to compel compliance by an unwilling subject".
Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee [1957] 1 WLR 582 is an English tort law case that lays down the typical rule for assessing the appropriate standard of reasonable care in negligence cases involving skilled professionals such as doctors. This rule is known as the Bolam test, and states that if a doctor reaches the standard of a responsible body of medical opinion, they are not negligent. Bolam was rejected in the 2015 Supreme Court decision of Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board in matters of informed consent.
Excited delirium (ExDS), also known as agitated delirium (AgDS) or hyperactive delirium syndrome with severe agitation, is a widely rejected diagnosis characterized as a potentially fatal state of extreme agitation and delirium. It has typically been diagnosed postmortem in young adult black males who were physically restrained by law enforcement personnel at the time of death.
Richardson v. Perales, 402 U.S. 389 (1971), was a case heard by the United States Supreme Court to determine and delineate several questions concerning administrative procedure in Social Security disability cases. Among the questions considered was the propriety of using physicians' written reports generated from medical examinations of a disability claimant, and whether these could constitute "substantial evidence" supportive of finding nondisability under the Social Security Act.
Taser safety issues relate to the lethality of the Taser. The TASER device is a less-lethal, not non-lethal, weapon, since the possibility of serious injury or death exists whenever the weapon is deployed. It is a brand of conducted electroshock weapon sold by Axon, formerly TASER International. Axon has identified increased risk in repeated, extended, or continuous exposure to the weapon; the Police Executive Research Forum says that total exposure should not exceed 15 seconds.
In many legal jurisdictions, the manner of death is a determination, typically made by the coroner, medical examiner, police, or similar officials, and recorded as a vital statistic. Within the United States and the United Kingdom, a distinction is made between the cause of death, which is a specific disease or injury, versus manner of death, which is primarily a legal determination versus the mechanism of death which does not explain why the person died or the underlying cause of death and can include cardiac arrest or exsanguination. Different categories are used in different jurisdictions, but manner of death determinations include everything from very broad categories like "natural" and "homicide" to specific manners like "traffic accident" or "gunshot wound". In some cases an autopsy is performed, either due to general legal requirements, because the medical cause of death is uncertain, upon the request of family members or guardians, or because the circumstances of death were suspicious.
Sean Rigg was a 40-year-old black British musician and music producer who had paranoid schizophrenia. He died following a cardiac arrest on 21 August 2008 while in police custody at the entrance to Brixton police station, South London, England. The case became a cause célèbre for civil rights and justice campaigners in the United Kingdom, who called for "improvement and change on a national level" regarding deaths in police custody and the police treatment of suspects with mental health issues.
On July 18, 2013, Tyrone West, a 44-year-old African American male, was pursued by two officers of the Baltimore Police Department after he fled a traffic stop during which cocaine was allegedly found. The cocaine later went missing in police possession after a subpoena was issued. West was on parole at the time of this incident with an extensive criminal record including assault, resisting arrest, and attempted first-degree murder. West ultimately died during the scuffle with police and various medical experts have given conflicting assessments of contributing factors including cardiac arrhythmia, dehydration, positional asphyxia, and extreme environmental temperatures.
Edson Da Costa was a 25-year-old Black Portuguese man who died on 21 June 2017 after being stopped by police on 15 June in Beckton, London. The unclear circumstances of his death led to protests. In June 2019, an inquest jury found that Da Costa died by misadventure from the consequences of a cardiorespiratory arrest after he placed in his mouth a plastic bag containing 88 wraps of class A drugs. The coroner ruled that there was no "legal or factual basis" for a conclusion that could be critical of the police. An investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct concluded that the restraint by officers was necessary and proportionate.
On January 7, 2021, a United States Capitol Police (USCP) officer, Brian Sicknick, died after suffering two strokes the day after he responded to an attack on the U.S. Capitol. The District of Columbia chief medical examiner found that Sicknick had died from stroke, classifying his death as natural and additionally commented that "all that transpired played a role in his condition", a decision which was criticized by some expert neurologists, who have stated that stress from the attack may have very well caused the stroke. His cremated remains were laid in honor in the Capitol Rotunda on February 2, 2021, before they were buried with full honors at Arlington National Cemetery.
State of Minnesota v. Derek Michael Chauvin was an American criminal case in the District Court of Minnesota in 2021. Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was tried and convicted for the murder of George Floyd, which occurred during an arrest on May 25, 2020, and led to global protests over racial injustice and police brutality. A 12-member jury found Chauvin guilty of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. It was the first conviction of a white police officer in Minnesota for the murder of a black person.
Law enforcement authorities fatally shot Winston Boogie Smith Jr., a 32-year-old black American man, in the Uptown area of Minneapolis at 2:08 p.m. CDT on June 3, 2021. Smith was being pursued by a U.S. Marshals Service task force that apprehends wanted fugitives. The arrest operation had the participation of undercover agents from several local police agencies in Minnesota. The officers did not use body cameras or dashcams when apprehending Smith. Controversy over the lack of law enforcement footage of the arrest operation led to local police agencies ceasing aid to the Marshals Service's fugitive task force, and to changes to body and dash camera policies by the Marshals and other federal law enforcement agencies.
On April 14, 2021, three officers from the Honolulu Police Department shot and killed 29-year-old Lindani Myeni fronting a home in Nuʻuanu, Honolulu County, Hawaii during an alleged burglary. Myeni was a Black South African who played professional rugby and had two young children. The shooting took place in a residence's driveway after apparent fighting with Honolulu police officers. All three police officers were injured, and one was hospitalized.