Page A12 september 2023 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS Section A her a day or two to get to the scene as it was blocked off. Dr. Hirsch asked her to accompany him. When the North Tower collapsed, Dr. Hirsch, thrown to the ground, broke all of his ribs. He returned to his duties without delay, despite the severe pain he must have been in. Butcher was overwhelmed, as many were, with the number of deceased. “One death is a tragedy, a thousand is a statistic.” She credits Tom Shepardson and D-MORT for their assistance in the care of the decedents and the families. She relates one pouch that came in. It contained a human heart, a set of keys and male genitalia. Another pouch contained a mangled hand thrust into the sternum area of another deceased as one was protecting the other. Another pouch contained two jawbones thrust through a rib cage, the remains of three people. Her career also included assisting the World Health Organization with the 2004 Tsunami in Thailand and the bombing in the London Underground. Dr. Hirsch eventually retired and a political change in the statehouse led to a purge in many departments, including Butcher’s employment. The loss of her job was devastating to her, as she had put her life into it. The depression she suffered from was so severe it required hospitalization, including electro-shock treatments. It gave Butcher time to realize that she could pursue anything she wished, She became an actress and had some small parts on television and on stage that gave her a new fulfillment. Her honesty about dealing with horror of gruesome death and its impact on your physical and mental health is a lesson to be learned. “Let conversation cease and laughter flee for this is the place where death delights to help the living.” –Inscription (in Latin) painted on the wall of the New York City Medical Examiner’s office Observations “This wasn’t just about the dead. It was about justice, and the public health.” –Barbara Butcher When you have to investigate twelve- and thirteen-yearold boys setting a man, sitting on a bench in Morningside Park in New York, on fire, you question your career or are intrigued by the study. Their explanation: “we didn’t have anything else to do that night.” Barbara Butcher always felt she was a misfit child and became a party-hearty girl and an alcoholic. She was without direction and a future. After achieving sobriety, a test that was part of New York’s Employment Program for Recovering Alcoholics suggested Barbara become either a vet tech or a coroner. She went to talk to the medical examiner’s office in her city of New York. She was given an interview with Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Charles Sidney Hirsch. He thought she had what it takes, and she spent a day in their facility. Her deep interest and resilience convinced him she would be a solid medicolegal investigator. She became the second female New York City MLI. Her book, What the Dead Know, (Simon & Schuster, June 2023) tells of her story from sobriety to solid career. The tales told are familiar to those of us who have done “police work” (removals for the medical examiner). It also gives all funeral employees a look at what came before we get the first call. Barbara’s revealing life story tells of dealing with such death and trauma, day after day. A story important to all who deal with death and those left behind. Butcher has heard all the comments about her name. In an interview with NPR, she told of having a student, John Slaughter, accompanying her on a call and she announced, “Butcher and Slaughter from the ME. What do you got, boys?” She observed, “Alcoholics can make good investigators. The alcoholic spends their time hiding evidence…A good investigator knows what is hidden…sees what is out of place. Who is better than someone with experience in hiding?” Her tenure with the medical examiner’s office taught her (and now us) many observations. A body was found in a tenement apartment house in the winter. The body was not disfigured on the outside but a hole in the abdomen was disturbing. A police officer told Butcher that rats will eat their way into the torso to feast as it is warm. A fire victim has some unique discoveries. If they were alive in the fire, they would have soot in their nostrils and mouth, then drawn into the larynx, trachea and lungs. LivBy Steven Palmer ing persons who get burned, blister, bleed and show inflammation. Already dead persons who get burned, just burn. Butcher investigated a nineteen-year-old female who was raped, suffocated and set on fire. She was suffocated until nearly dead and put into a shopping cart, taken into an apartment house and set on fire, while she was just barely alive. The overwhelming horror of some of the cases tested her professionalism and her mettle. A Dominican family was murdered in Washington Heights. Father, mother and a ten-year-old son all awaited her and the police detectives. She knelt down to examine the young victim. “A mop of soft brown curls, downy hair on his tan cheek and a Star Wars backpack looped over his shoulders, was lying face down on the floor with a gunshot wound to the forehead.” She saw small footprints that tracked blood across the carpet. She learned that a three-year-old son heard the gunshots, ran by his parents’ bodies and hid behind drapes, where police found him, “trembling and mute.” One of the most interesting cases in her book was one that was pre-mortem and anti-mortem. Dr. James Watt offered a miracle cure to patients. He said he could remove poisons and heavy metals from the body. Leah was a woman who suffered from depression and turned to Dr. Watts for treatment. Dr. Watts decided her depression was so deep it required a “rebirth experience,” where he would render her unconscious. He placed a face mask on her. The flow that entered her lungs contained carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide. The machine that pumped this mixture into her lungs was a homemade pump that appeared to be made of spare parts from a yard sale. These treatments were given to many people over a period of time. The conclusion of the treatment would be if success was achieved, or their money ran out. Watts gave Leah 60% carbon dioxide (normal intake is 1%). Leah didn’t wake up as she should have. Her pulse was checked. There was no discernable pulse. Dr. Watts didn’t know CPR. Emergency Medical Services were called, she was resuscitated in the ambulance. She arrived in a coma that she never recovered from. Dr. Hirsch was asked to investigate this case as Leah lay in a coma. Barbara Butcher was intrigued to be involved in a case before death. Leah did die. Her autopsy revealed that her cause of death was anoxic encephalopathy due to medically administered carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide. Butcher investigated the death scenes of the Carnegie Deli Massacre and the crash of American Airlines flight 587 crash in Queens, both in 2001, as well as the fatal crash of the Staten Island Ferry in 2003. September 11, 2001, is a vivid memory to Butcher. It took Death Detective Steven Palmer entered funeral service in 1971. He is an honors graduate of the New England Institute of Applied Arts & Sciences. He has been licensed on both coasts, he owned the Westcott Funeral Homes of Cottonwood and Camp Verde, AZ, where he remains active in operations. Steve offers his observations on current funeral service issues. He may be reached by mail at PO Box 352, Cottonwood, AZ 86326, by phone at (928)634-9566, by fax at (928)634-5156, by e-mail at steve@westcottfuneralhome.com or through his website at www.westcottfuneralhome.com or on Facebook. FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS www.NomisPublications.com Monthly Columnsonline at 1-888-792-9315 • mymortuarycooler.com Scan QR for our website Cots not included MODEL # TR3 Triple Cot Roll-In Mortuary Cooler AMC N W FAST SHIPPING AVAILABLE ON SELECT PRODUCTS CHICAGO, IL – Mary Smith (C) and Dwayne Banks (R) of Smith & Thomas Funeral Home are shown taking delivery of their 2023 Cadillac Heritage built by Federal Coach. Smith & Thomas Funeral Home purchased their new vehicle from John Muster (L) of Muster Coaches. Smith & Thomas Funeral Home Muster Coaches 1-800-274-3619 Calhoun, KY ESCONDIDO,CA— Alhiser-Comer Mortuary was awarded the Small Business of the Year Award by the North San Diego Business Chamber at its 2023 Leadership Awards on June 22, 2023. Additionally, Megan Comer, President of Alhiser-Comer, received the California Funeral Directors Association top honor, being named ‘Funeral Director of the Year’ on June 27, 2023. Megan and her sister, Nicole Comer-Postma also own and operate Lakepointe Crematorium in Riverside County. “Our success is all due to the trust of the community and the integrity of our staff. We keep the Alhiser-Comer family legacy, begun by our father, Stuart and grandfather, Bill, at the forefront and keep building on it,” says Megan. Alhiser-Comer Mortuary Recognized Megan Comer Alhiser-Comer Mortuary Staff SEND US YOUR NEWS! info@nomispublications.com
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy Nzg4MQ==