Professor Calls Inquests Moribund

The current law on death is not only vague about the exact time of death, but its procedures for fixing the cause of death are also inadequate especially in cases of drug abuse and political violence, according to a Harvard Law professor.

Writing in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, William J. Curran, Lee Professor of Legal Medicine at the Law School, said that more than 60 per cent of American communities are handling medicolegal investigations of death cases inadequately.

Curran-who writes a regular column on medicine and the law-said that new methods of investigating deaths are needed because of an increase in

political assassinations and deaths during violent protest demonstrations;

deaths where drug abuse is suspected; and

deaths by violence.

Curran called for improved methods of handling political murders because "we cannot have a Warren Commission to conduct ad hoc reviews of every political killing."

He also cited an increase in drug-connected deaths, particularly among teenagers. The increase stems not only from lethal overdoses, he said, adding "They are killing themselves in all sorts of tragic ways while under the influence of drugs."

Crimes of violence have increased 104 per cent during the last ten years, he said, while the population has increased only 11 per cent.

Pessimistic about quick reforms, Curran said, "[The problems] have been around for so long that officialdom and the man in the street alike see no pressing need to cope with them."