Read the background articles (below) on controversial Mississippi Medical Examiner, Steven Hayne. Should the government do more to regulate the credentials and behavior of health practitioners working with the dead? Why or why not? What are the underlying philosophical issues in this particular situation. Defend your position.
Articles:
From Reason Online -
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From Slate -
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Government should definitely require more regulations regarding the credentials required by state medical examiners. Tougher regulations must also exist to ensure the proper handling and examination of the deceased. Medical examiners should be contracted out from private companies in order to avoid bias and persuasion from state officials. It is unfair for those on trial for murder to have a medical examiner that has been coerced by prosecutors. Not only is the defendant at a disadvantage by having the medical examiner falsify evidence but completely negates the entire justice system. Kantian philosophy would be highly upset with such actions because it is the duty of the medical examiner to report the truth of an autopsy. Medical personnel are bound by obligation, not monetary bribes or coercion by prosecution simply to gain a conviction. Hobbs’ Social Contract Theory would also be excluded because the falsification of evidence is unethical. Social rules backed by laws and regulations leads to a better “society.” When such laws and regulations are not obeyed, the concept of “society” will cease to exist.
The credentials of medical examiners absolutely should be regulated. Whether the coroners are employed by the state or are private practitioners their credentials and behaviors should be held to the same strict standards of healthcare professionals. Many times a medical examiner is the last line in determining the death of an individual. Cause of death, especially for the use of criminal investigations must be held to the highest levels of professional standards. To fabricate the finds of an autopsy or alter circumstances is unethical and morally repugnant. As victims have rights and it is our duty to determine the circumstances of one’s death and proceed with justice, it is also our duty to use the evidence before us with an unbiased opinion regarding interpretation of evidence. It is immoral and unethical to wield such power over another individual solely based one’s personal opinion without using the facts set before us. As a medical examiner the only ethical way to behave and perform one’s job is scientifically, without prejudice or influence.
Even though they are already deceased,human remains are as important as when they were alive and for this reason they should be handled with great care and dignity.
The government should put in place strict regulations and requirements for those handling the dead such as pathologists and coroners,morticians and undertakers.
These government should require these health practitioners to be certified by the governing boards residing over those issues,like the board of medical examiners.They should also be mandated to go through massive training to ensure that they are well experienced.There should be strict guidelines and code of conduct that these medical examiners should adhere to,just like doctors. Severe penalties should befall those who violate these guidelines,including revocation of their licenses.
Failure to regulate these health practitioners will lead to more harm to the living than to the already dead.In the case of the Mississippi medical examiner,his medical license should be revoked and he should be prosecuted for providing false evidence to the courts.Autopsies for criminal investigations should be performed independent of law enforcement and the prosecutors.
Many innocent people will suffer if people like him are not stopped in their tracks.How would the government do this? By making them more accountable for their actions,and punishing those who violates these government regulations.
Yes the goverment should do more to regulate the credentials and behavior of health practitioners working with the dead.Look what this medical examiner did to a couple of people that they know of right now. He falsified evidince on in important homicide cases for to make the prosecutions job easier on convicting someone for murder and rape whether they did it or not thats not right. How do we know he didn't do other things with these bodies beside make up fake autopsy reports and evidince for. This is crazy and twisted and hopefully we don't find out theres more people working with dead bodies that we trust to do their job doing this that would be so horrible. I mean look at it like this the people who really raped and killed these people are probably still running around killing and raping people because they've blamed someone else and their also giving the families of the victims false hope that the right person has been caught and punished for this crime and how about the family of the wrongly accused they think they have a murderer in the family or a rapist. We trust these people to give us the right answers and reasons for why we've pasted away or a love one and we want the truth to be that the truth not some made up stuff.
Maybe now they should have two different medical examiners look at bodies when it's dealing with these homicide cases and things like this I don't know they need to do something now we have to worry in death too.
Mr. Hatne should have to go to prision for this and experiance what he did to two innocent men and he should be suid by both parties the deceased persons family and the wrongly accused person. This man has done a bad thing God Bless his sole!
After reading the articles about Steven Haynes I am extremely angry. I sat and asked myself over and over again how could, and why would someone behavior in this manner. He was destroying lives and families of many innocent people. All the cases I read about were African American men who the State, prosecutor, and medical examiners could care less about. Not only Steven Haynes, but other medical examiners falsified evidence to help the prosecutor win cases and convict innocent people. These medical examiners made the prosecutor’s job easy; they very rarely had to do any work since evidence was falsified in their favor. These actions were unethical by all three parties. It’s unethical on the states behalf because they knew the system was corrupted but did absolutely nothing to fix it. It’s unethical on the prosecutor and the medical examiner behalf because they falsified evidence wrongly accusing innocent people (just to make them look good and close the case).
I feel the government should do more to regulate the credentials and behaviors of health practitioners working with the dead. If someone is going to give medical advice and testify, they should have the proper training and certified in that field, especially if their professional opinion will determine someone else’s faith. They should not be allowed to perform more autopsies then the board allows per year. If the board’s certifications, rules and regulations are not carried out in the way in which they are supposed to, that medical examiner’s certifications should revoked and they should not be able to work in that field, because lives are on the lines.
Medical examiner should work independently (3rd party) of both sides, this party should be given the evidence needed to help conclude their investigation, then discuss their finding in court only, therefore both sides would have to present the case to their full potential (the way its supposed to be done)
It saddens me to know there is so much corruption in the world. It’s also sad that it hits African American men the worst. I can’t believe that the State of Mississippi wants to keep this moron (Steven Haynes) around, after he was wrong on more than one occasion. So many innocent men are sitting in prison right now. I sure can’t wait until his judgment day; he sword to tell the truth. He is an unethical human being.
The federal government should do more to regulate the credentials and behavior of health practitioners working with the dead. I believe the case involving the Mississippi Medical Examiner, Steven Hayne is an example of unethical behavior involving his testimony and his relationship between the prosecutors office. Without more government regulation an environment will arise in which the ethical lines for health practitioners will be easier to cross. The responsibility lies in the government to take care of the dignity of death for their citizens. The justice system is affected by these unethical professional who with their wrong testimony can convict innocent people. A examiners office with excess contact with the prosecutions office could bias their professional duties. A social contract between the government and their citizens is at issue here their might be vague regulation with loopholes that need to be addressed by adding government oversight on the smaller municipalities
After reading the articles on the Mississippi Medical Examiner, Steve Hayne I was astonished. I strongly believe that the government should do more to regulate the credentials and behaviours of health practitioners. It is unethical to let a person like Steve Hayne conduct autopsy without being certified by the American Board of Pathology. It is careless of the court to not check his credential and assume his testimony is reliable. As I was reading the article, it was shown that Hayne evidently contributed to at least two unjust convictions and that he has given false testimonies in many others. This is unconceivable! Without proper regulations Hayne has violated government regulations and in anyway justifies his careless testimonies that have damage many families and put potential innocent people in jail, potentially death row. I also, was disgusted by the coroners and prosecutors that wanted to continue using Hayne services because he provided the results they wanted. It is unethical and I strongly believe that Hayne should be revoked from ever working as a medical examination. My philosophy is Justice shall be done.
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