Rhino
06-02-2006, 08:05 AM
Coroners Scrutinized Amid Case of Taylor University Crash Victims Mix-up
Friday, June 02, 2006
INDIANAPOLIS — A misidentification that led a Michigan couple to hold a bedside vigil for a daughter who wasn't theirs has led to scrutiny of local coroners, many of whom lack formal medical training yet are required to identify victims in chaotic conditions.
Forensic experts said misidentifications are rare. But they are more likely in cases where officials rely on visual IDs instead of medical tests — as was the case with two Taylor University students involved in an April 26 crash.
Freshman Whitney Cerak was pronounced dead at the scene after a university van was struck by a tractor-trailer as students and university employees returned to the school's Upland campus, about 60 miles northeast of Indianapolis, after preparing for a banquet in Fort Wayne. Five people died.
Another student, identified as senior Laura VanRyn, suffered brain and other injuries. She was recuperating in a Michigan rehabilitation center this week when her family discovered the young woman they'd tended for five weeks was Cerak — and VanRyn had died..........http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,197922,00.html
Friday, June 02, 2006
INDIANAPOLIS — A misidentification that led a Michigan couple to hold a bedside vigil for a daughter who wasn't theirs has led to scrutiny of local coroners, many of whom lack formal medical training yet are required to identify victims in chaotic conditions.
Forensic experts said misidentifications are rare. But they are more likely in cases where officials rely on visual IDs instead of medical tests — as was the case with two Taylor University students involved in an April 26 crash.
Freshman Whitney Cerak was pronounced dead at the scene after a university van was struck by a tractor-trailer as students and university employees returned to the school's Upland campus, about 60 miles northeast of Indianapolis, after preparing for a banquet in Fort Wayne. Five people died.
Another student, identified as senior Laura VanRyn, suffered brain and other injuries. She was recuperating in a Michigan rehabilitation center this week when her family discovered the young woman they'd tended for five weeks was Cerak — and VanRyn had died..........http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,197922,00.html