Page 7 - Daniel Spitz News Today

It could be related to some type of psychosis where this was done in a purposeful manner. >> andreas condition deteriorated after being diagnosed with mental illness three years before her death. her family is frustrated and angry with the care she received. >> the mental health care system is grossly inadequate to take care of mentally ill people. >> when will people become aware these arent strange people out there, these are family members. these are people you pass on the streets. these are ...

Spitz. >> the police are asking if youd be doing this this morning or tomorrow? its an obvious hanging. hemp rope around the neck, climbed up a ladder and stepped off of it. all right. bye. tomorrow. >> macomb county, michigan, population 900,000, is a mainly working class suburb of detroit. historically, the areas largest employer has been the automotive industry. but with some of the highest unemployment and foreclosure rates in the country things have been grim around here. >> in its heyday, ...

I kind of sat back and said wait a minute. this could be some type of aneurism that ruptured but quickly figured out it was a small amount of bleeding and there was a small injury to her liver which was cpr related. that was quickly ruled as being sort of an artifact of resuscitation as opposed to being related to her death. >> then the rest of the body is examined in the order in which dr. spitz always conducts these exams, organs removed, weighed, and dissected. and, finally, the head opened u...

Playing on carpet reels at this warehouse and cindy fell down this elevator shaft. >> at the morgue, dr. spitz has two goals. he tries to confirm that the remains are indeed cindys. >> once they are laid out we can photograph everything. we need it to be definitive in regards to the identification. we cant as the medical examiner just assume it is who we think it is based on circumstantial information. we have to be definitive and use some time of biological means to confirm the identity. >> he ...

Fit with his own actions, his own fall down the stairway or could it implicate somebody else? let us see whats in his head. >> now christina moves on to face two of her skillful and hard-to-stomach operation, opening the head so dr. spitz can examine the brain. >> i will take the bone saw and saw around the skull, pick off the skull cap, expose the brain and remove the brain. i have a shield because i do the saw work and sometimes bone and blood will start spattering up and id like to save my ey...

>> theres no sign of trauma or any other obvious explanation for the womans death. >> really not much else we can do right now, just contact the medical examiner, talk to him, explain the circumstances. >> if you need help ill give you a hand. >> dwayne locksmith a medical investigator for st. claire county which is also in dr. spitz jurisdiction, organizes the transfer of ms. palmateers body to the morgue. dr. spitz will attempt to rule a cause of death in the morning.

Abdomen, and removing the rib plate, the chest plate so that you can visualize the chest and abdominal organs and then looking at the body cavities, looking for collections of blood or infection. >> something going on in her abdomen with all this blood. >> watch, find its an aneurism. >> lets just work our way down. >> oh, theres a problem. >> the first clue dr. spitz finds? an accumulation of blood in mrs. moores abdomen. but he quickly determines the blood is not significant. >> thats only a l...

19 years old. and then a woman here who was in the hospital who went in for some jaw pain and was really being treated for that but nobody felt it was much of anything and she was actually being scheduled to be sent home and all of a sudden went into cardiac arrest and died, so an unusual situation. >> sunday may be a day of rest for many but for macomb county, michigan medical examiner dr. daniel spitz, the work never stops. >> took what kind of blood so far? >> three and one. >> christina heis...

Its an analysis of the drugs and the levels and the circumstances which allow you to come to the conclusion as to whether this is a drug related death. >> once toxicology is drawn, dr. spitz begins to remove the womans fragile organs. he quickly sees that his hunch about an enlarged heart is dead on. >> her heart is awful big for a woman, even an overweight woman. so thats one potential problem right there. the heart? yeah. thats big. >> the average weight of a female heart is 280 grams. anns he...

She for the medical examiner, he for the east point police. once they fully assess the scene, renee had the body moved to the kitchen floor so she can do a proper physical exam. when shes done, a company contracted by the county will transport mr. kruegers body to the morgue where dr. spitz will perform an autopsy first thing tomorrow morning. based on mr. krugers history of alcoholism, it could appear hes the victim of a drunken accident. >> hed obviously been down a while. >> but renee is care...