Death Investigations: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
2024 ж. 4 Мам.
10 120 582 Рет қаралды
America’s system for conducting death investigations is a mess. John Oliver explains why we should all be a little more concerned about fixing it.
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That guy who just kept quiet, I have a weird feeling that he ate it and not the dog
I believe his dog was innocent
He ate the body. The eyes say it.
Antisemite
@@cinemaparadiso5402 what?
@@nope2942 Speaking against the guy who just kept quiet ..duh!
I feel like the sort of person who volunteers to cut up corpses in their spare time with no prior experience or training other than "they want to" is *exactly* the sort of person you DONT want to be a coroner.
Actually, how many towns do it is that they have elected coroners and they contract the job of actually cutting up and investigating the body to a private company. All the coroner does is do PR and sign off on the full report of the investigation. Yep, because there is of course money to be made in cutting up bodies. This is America where everything is contracted out to a private company because the government can't run the damn things themselves. Except the post office, that is still under them except they do a horrible job of managing it. The post office isn't horrible, just the people managing it.
think of what a great paying job that would be with pension and your clients tell no tales.
I know in Memphis for a large portion of the 90's, one of the guys working the morgue and helping with autopsies was a dude who worked a side job at a Pizza Hut. He was tired a lot and would confused the cutting on the cadaver's chest for a cutting up the slices of a pizza. So instead of a "Y" pattern, you'd end up with an 8 pc pizza cut. That morgue would regularly have to pay for shirts and jackets at funerals because of how he messed up the bodies.
The only people that are going to do this job are the people that want to. Who else would want to?
Late response but tbh I'd totally be down for that. Morbid curiosity makes it interesting and not everyone who is morbidly curious is a murderer or psychopath
This episode reminds of an episode of Criminal Minds where Rossi and Blake go to the coroner and ask if he checked for signs of sexual assault and he says "She was a hooker, there wasn't a need" and they ask him where he went to medical school, and he says he was elected.
I'm so glad you brought that up! First, I freaking love that show. And yeah, do your job, dude!
I ain’t gonna show his spleen respect I’ll tell you that.
Jesus christ, how have I not seen that episode and holy shit, I know for a fact somewhere in this hell country that exact encounter has occurred.
Father-in-law's death certificate read 50 years of tobacco abuse!
In Italy you need at least 10 years of university education (6 med school, 4 forensic) to even begin to perform autopsies on your own. Just saying...
That’s how is should be! 👌🏼
hard to perform an autopsy on your own when you are alive
@@Imthefake you mean on yourself* if you are going to try and be a smartass, at least be smart first.
You mean, America is doing something wrong? How could that be?
@@xenosbreed staggering revelation, isn't it.
You know it’s a John Oliver story when he says “and then they contracted out to private businesses” and then everything goes horribly horribly wrong.
Tank 1900 more proof that John Oliver is socialist trash
Actual honest question: has there ever been an instance of "contracted out to private services" going RIGHT? And we can argue the definition of "right", to my knowledge there's always some negative consequence to handing over a formerly public service over to a for-profit organization. Hell, there's consequences for any model of service-providing organization, and those can change depending on surrounding circumstances. Let's say "going right" is where the benefits can be reasonably argued to outweigh those consequences. I just want to know if there's any instance where privatization has resulted in things *not* devolving into a hilarious mess.
dreamingwolf8382 lol, conserva-drone
Religion is cancer - Whatever, have fun knowing that your precious Hillary will never be president.
@@dreamingwolf8382 I really dont understand why you guys are still stuck on Hillary. I never liked her anyway, I just hated Trump more. The only people I still hear talking about Hillary are conservatives.
"They asked me how well I understood theoretical physics. I said I had a theoretical degree in physics. They said welcome aboard."
Ah, the Th.D
Oh the fun i had killing that guy
Love this reference
First person I thought about lol
What's the reference for please?
How to incentivize medical students to work as a medical pathologist: after working in the office for 4 years; you get debt forgiveness.
Also, free therapy as benefits.
I wonder if this extends to pathologist assistants?
@@katiem3626 It should, if it were a real thing. It would be a lesser position, but it would also carry with it a much smaller student loan burden
I'm studying for medical school, and intend to either become a toxicologist or a forensic pathologist. The payment is great, the work hours are reasonable, you get a lot of alone time, free therapy and the patients aren't jerks to you
@@Kamila-ey5vi yeah except here forensic pathologists also do rape kits, examinations for court etc on living "clients" who might sometimes be the asshole.
In my home county, someone was found drowned in a bathtub with their hands tied behind their back and the coronors ruled it a suicide.
Holeee Jesus where was this
That guys an idiot! I’ve been tying my hands behind my back while I bathe all the time! It’s obviously an accident!
WTF😳😳
@@adamantium7279 🤣🤣🤣🤣
That usually means that whoever runs that area instructed the coroners to rule it a suicide.
If it wasn't for John Oliver, I would not even be aware of stuff like this.
karen henry why do you all brag about being so fucking ignorant???
Same😂
@@fakenoose8978 Would you prefer these folks a) lie, or b) not seek out information via a medium they prefer? (ADHDer, here. Sometimes, video/audio is better for me, and other times, the written word helps me retain more of the information I consume.) I'd rather someone admit they don't know things than pretend they know everything. Everyone has to start somewhere.
@@fakenoose8978 it's not bragging about being ignorant, it's bragging about Oliver's show, period.
Read ProPublica!
My mom passed away suddenly in December 2017. The medical examiner's office chose to not do a full autopsy, and only run a toxicology screening, as it was expected that she had passed due to interactions of medications she was on. Despite not even doing an autopsy, it took SIX months before the toxicology reports were returned to us. We nearly lost access to her life insurance, as the life insurance company told us they were giving us one month to get them a death certificate, otherwise we forfeit the policy. Thankfully my dad realized this was illegal, and after threatening to get the insurance commissioner involved, they changed their tune, and let us submit the certificate once we finally had it. I shudder to think how many people, deep in their grief and pain, just roll over and give up when companies try to take advantage of them like that, because they don't think they have any options. The whole death industry is positioned perfectly to take advantage of people at their weakest moments, and from funeral parlors to life insurance, it happens way too frequently, and is exacerbated by the issues with the coroner/medical examiner industry.
I am so sorry for your loss, and for your atrocious treatment at the hands of the "death industry", which sounds horrible at the outset. I truly hope that this sort of thing improves as best it can.
Sorry for your loss. And this is so true. Wish John Oliver would’ve brought up the issue of death certificates and life insurance in the video. It’s one of the biggest problems with this whole situation, IMO.
When someone dies, the weirdoes come put of the woodwork!
I’m so sorry for your loss and what happened to you is so horrible.
Unfortunately, many people do give up due to grief, it's understandable, but at the same time, shame on those people playing off the grief of others! It's despicable, and inexcusable.. I'm sorry you and your family were put through this at such an already difficult time..
Being a Forensic Pathologist sounds like the medical equivalent of becoming a public defender. If you don’t incentivize students to take up the profession, they won’t do it unless they’re desperate.
Vow. How u put that
Aside from the utterly shocking facts exposed in this story, I think most of us were pretty blown away that Hugh Grant could have been going by Hugh Mungo Grant and yet has chosen not to.
The victim’s body had 37 knife wounds to the chest and stomach. It must be a cooking accident.
28 STAB WOUNDS!!!
Carl, that kills people!
He ran into my knife. He ran into my knife 37 times.
@@ShootingStarNeo If you'da been there, if you'da seen it, I bet ya you would've done the same!
@@bengal4047 Didn't wanna give him a chance?
"They would "butcher" my last name" My man really dropped the most cutting edge pun of 2019 huh
I'm disappointed that I missed this the first time watching.
With the Sword of Omens! I was like "WHOA....that was nice, bro." 😂 Still a douchebag, but that pun was mixtape fire grade.
Cokedup Normies didn’t miss your pin either
I wanted his intro to be "Death; The number one cause of death in the world."
Death: The least useful metal to use in construction.
Death : the thing that will inevitably put you down.
Death: The least effective way to live.
Life: a pre-existing condition found to proceed 100% of deaths in the world.
Anyone else watching this in 2020 after the medical examiner in Minnesota said that George Floyd WASN'T killed by asphyxiation?
Yes! Have watched several past shows of John.. specially the ‘Policing of police’..
I have watched so many old episodes in the past few days and it just makes me sadder and sadder. It’s so disappointing.
Here
I've been linking the shit out of this video all over the internet.
Riiight... this shits gotta go. i thought occupy was gonna do something in 2011 then it was ridiculed beyond belief by everyone in my highschool and the media and even officials laugh at peaceful protests. I forgot about being so driven for human rights being more important than laws and order because they made the struggle too real and got caught up in playing the game. Been looking at a lot of these videos just for some basic rundown of what i've ignored for so long. In 2011, I always went to federal spending on military to kill people around the world instead of looking at local police budgets vs education budget and having to use books from 70s or 80s to study sociology and psychology can say firmly that the police need defunding.
I'm amazed at how effective John Oliver explains depressing matters in a enjoyable way
Hence the many Emmys for the show! On a sidenote, I noticed your profile picture and wanted to ask what MCR song you like best.
So you like comedy
Killjoys never die.
I mean, he is British...they're 1) Good at explaining stuff 2) Used to depressing, *that is just science.*
He's English. Misery and depression is what they do. England is stunningly beautiful for, like, 8 days a year. The rest of the time is pure misery.
"But that's just me speaking personally, as both correctly and objectively" is now my new favorite motto. EDIT: I'm not sure how I feel about this being my most liked comment on this website...
Fax
Almost gave a thumbs up but couldnt...it's on 420 at the moment. I'll come back later and thumb you.
@@smilingdog4067 you may return now
@@jamesslick9879 Yup. Thumbed!
At what point exactly was it mentioned ?
"They can sound the alarm when they spot the spread of infectious disease." 2020: *laughs manically*
I may or may not have been looking for one of these comments 😆
If by infectious disease you mean whatever brain disease you have to have to think colds are deadly then in that was 2020 but other then the unknown brain disease that makes you think colds are deadly (there not) there was no infections disease in 2020 because and this is true Coronacold isn't deadly 😱😱😱😱i know i know
@@robosnipercat6960 Yeah, I checked how many years ago this was posted when I saw that. Bingo: 2020.
1:44 “They can sound the alarm incase if an infectious disease.” Relevant in 2020...
Apparently they couldn't do that in China.
@@brettkane9175 -- They did. The thing is, you don't do it with one weird pneumonia case. Or with three at three different hospitals. There have to be enough cases for doctors to have an "oh, shit, I think we have a problem" moment. The first four deaths from Legionnaires disease (another pneumonia) originated at a hotel in Spain in 1973. No one identified it as a new disease until 221 people got sick at a hotel in Philadelphia in 1976. Later they figured out there were cases as far back as 1947. The reason Obama worked with Chinese officials to set up contagious disease centres in China is because everyone knows that authoritarian administrators are a pain in the ass. When things go wrong, they freeze up, don't listen, or send you to work on something else and look for ways to cover their ass. Trump, being an authoritarian and incompetent administrator, closed nearly all of the centres (because they were Obama's achievement) and ignored the intelligence reports he was given in late December already.
@@maryanneslater9675: What about the 43 people that died at LifeCare Center of Kirkland, Wa in the first 3 weeks of March. That's not 3 people at 3 facilities. 43 deaths, in 1 facility, in 3 weeks, should be enough death, for someone to investigate why.
PB & J that was in March people knew by then
@@pbj4338 People had known about the novel coronavirus for MONTHS by then.
"I tell people all the time, I almost became a neurosurgeon" is the most iconic line.
And I almost applied become a pilot.. Can I pilot a commercial jet now?? 🛫
"I sleep with a different woman almost every day of the week. It almost happened on Monday, almost happened on Tuesday, almost happened on Wednesday..."
I almost became a millionaire....missed it by 6 numbers...
"They asked me how well I understood theoretical physics, I said I had a theoretical degree in physics." Dude's literally Fantastic from fallout new vegas!
@@libaf5471 you need your own comment
I am currently applying to medical school to become a forensic pathologist! I investigated the lack of medical examiners as an intern for the Colorado legislature last summer! After talking to hospitals, lobbyists, medical students, the lack of medical examiners derives from 1) lack of rotations during med school 2) as John Oliver mentioned, malpractice and outdated infrastructure and 3) appropriate pay. States can EASILY fix this problem via state funding - incorporating medical examiner offices into an agency of the state (not local) executive branch. The problem arises in convincing legislators that this underrepresented aspect of public life needs reform. TL;DR Contact your state legislator today! I’ll literally email you a prewritten letter or spoken prompt. You just fill in the blanks and send it to your congressman. Thank you for coming to my TEDtalk
pm me
I respect that you saw a deficiency in the system, and decided to help to be part of the solution! If more people responded in this way, John would have a more difficult job finding subjects for his show each week...
For real don't do the prewritten messages. I've dealt with many (state) legislators and they find those things insincere and eventually annoying. Think about it: if someone was trying to convince you of something and yet they didn't even care enough to do their own research, would you be convinced? Your input will be taken far more seriously if you do your own research and write your own findings. Ceci Marie-cee could probably help you with finding some of the less public information but the end result should be your own. (And believe me, they can tell when you did and didn't write stuff)
Can you post a Google Drive link in the comments?
I would agree to the state (not local) agencies, but I recall a program that went from county-run to state-run and I only used it _once_. I was lucky that I packed applesauce that day because my doctor's appointment ended at 2:15, and the driver who finally took me home didn't pick me up until 6:30 (I have diabetes.) Worse yet, a man _died_ because he couldn't get to his dialysis appointment (the driver didn't pick him up until fifteen minutes after his scheduled appointment ended, and the dialysis place couldn't fit him in.)
This program hits the nail on the head. In a very concise, but yet respectfully humorous way, John Oliver has presented the day-to-day horrors and frustrations that Medical Examiners must deal with every day. I direct students interested in forensics and forensic pathology to this segment so that they have a little glimpse of what they will be fighting against and fighting for.
Many of the clips are from a Frontline documentary, “Post Mortem.” kzhead.info/sun/oMyugquZpGmuemg/bejne.html
Another sad thing about coroner and medical examiner offices is how quick they are to completely write off people with a documented history of drug abuse. If they are informed that you have a documented history of drug abuse, any thoughts of an investigation into the cause of death are over, and that is what they're going to write on your death certificate. Cause of death: Complications due to history of drug abuse. Even if that has nothing to do with the actual cause of death.
It's just amazing how the USA functions as a 3rd world country
While being the richest country the world has ever seen.. That especially is...mind-blowing
@@michalovesanime true. USA might have the biggest pie but sadly the per person slice just barely makes top 10. So I guess more like 10th that think it's 1st .
Nah. We don't do that here. We might have corruption, nepotism, lack of resources, but our laws protect citizens, our medical examiners are properly qualified, we have ombudsmens out the wazoo, and we are working towards a better country. You guys just want to kill the poor
I am from a third world country...and we have better system for death certificates, because actual doctors do it..(.because we have alot of doctors.)
Getting a death certificate takes less than a week after application in Kenya. This topic shocked me
They asked me how well I understood theoretical medical examination. I said I had a theoretical degree in medical examination. They said welcome aboard.
ah, I see this here's the idiot with the glasses *cocks silenced 10mm pistol*
Ah, I see you're a courier of culture, Patrick.
now I feel like replaying new vegas. anyway that reference is fantastic. The “i almost became neurosurgeon” guy is so close to IRL version of Fantastic that it’s baffling.
Hahaha I literally played that quest last night. Weird coincidence.
I always thought that was a sarcastic joke. I didnt know it was a joke litterally describing reality
Best line of this entire video, "I really did almost do those things!". I literally had to pause to process that for a second lol.
In the midst of COVID, this has suddenly become a hugely relevant problem that somehow isn't being talked about.
What's with USA's weird obsession with holding elections for public positions that should be filled by professionally trained experts? DAs, coroners, sheriffs, ... WTF? Just hold public examinations and tests, and hire the candidate with the best qualification like everybody else. Edit: C'mon people, I'm not suggesting that you should appoint those positions, but choose them in public exams, with binding results that are not controlled by the local authorities.
No, That makes to much sense. NEXT!
*_BUT THIS IS THE LAND OF THE FREE! LET PEOPLE BE FREE TO CHOOSE THEIR OWN IDIOTS AND NOT THE PROFESSIONALS WHO ARE BETTER SUITED FOR THE JOB, YOU FUCKING COMMIE!_*
A look at the president they chose tells you everything about these morons. A reality TV show host, lolol :) :)
DeMoCrAcY
Wherever you're from, can I move there? They clearly have brains.
Always wondered where my dog runs off to... turns out he's an Arkansas coroner.
Spoopy
@Daryl Leckt im sure he is. Prolly why hes qualified
If your dog was an Arkansas coroner, he’d probably be the best option they have.
Reminds me of Perry Platypus. Runs off when needed.
Sad thing is he wouldn’t be the worst coroner the Midwest has had.
Dr. Bennet Omalu, the guy who left after the sheriff changed autopsy findings, had an entire movie made about him back in 2015 called Concussion.
in arkansas most coroners run for the job so they can get kickbacks from funeral homes. The coroner decides where the body goes.
Doesn’t the family decide?
@@debschwer2236 The family decides where to hold the funeral, but not usually where the body is first stored. That way they have to contact the funeral home where the body was sent to make arrangement and because of this they normally get the families business. More often than not.
So basically CSI and NCIS studio sets are better than the real thing ?
...And the actors playing the characters, are probably more quallified about the issue than some of the people being *elected* coroners... to say nothing about the people running private autopsy chop shops.
Not just _better_ but _comically_ _better_
🤣🤣😂😂
Baard Ove Kopperud - Oh that’s just a terrifying idea.
Actually, probably yes. At least _some_ research goes into those scripts. Not even kidding.
"Death by bonesaw and jumper cables should count as a natural cause and nobody needs to investigate those deaths." -Saudi Prince Salaman
If that idiot had only knowledge of the pathetic ways the US handle autopsies, he could have handled everything perfectly legal inside the US.
You forgot to add the Princes credentials as the Royal Coroner - elected by himself.
Lol
Seems reasonable to me
Try from my country "Autopsy in poisoning case is a golden standard"- head prosecutor from National Prosecutor office of Indonesia, Poison/Cyanide coffe case-Jessica K Wongso (2018). I never be more dead inside.
yeah, I was pre-med for my first semester of college, does that make me a doctor?
You were almost a doctor
The fact that we suck at death investigations is one of many reasons why we're in the boat we're in regarding COVID.
Shout out to everyone who’s watching this video during the pandemic…
This is good journalism. It's great that you continue to call out these issues, since the typical media fails to do so.
You realize they used clips from typical news right?
@@MRuby-qb9bd Oh so...is a scholarly journal from the Executive Office of the President of the National science and Technology Council worthwhile?
@@vidmasterK1 Probably? I don't understand the relevance of that question. I was just pointing out that many of the sources they show clips of come from pretty mainstream news sources which would indicate that, yes, in fact typical media is actually reporting on it. I think the bigger issue is how much our feeds tend to be curated by algorithms that send us down the rabbit hole of fluff and clickbait. Meanwhile typical media is just as good as it's ever been--we're just not paying attention.
@@MRuby-qb9bd The relevance is that the mainstream news is perceived as toxic, biased, and narrative-driven. When you cite mainstream news nowadays (and even local news outlets) you almost have to hold your breath in case someone goes to cry foul that it's biased and fake. I wonder (and hope) scholarly work is still considered neutral and grounded enough to be immune from such labels.
@@vidmasterK1 I agree. I guess I am just confused why the question was directed at me?
Surprised that John didn't announce he was running for the coroners office in Arkansas.
Spoilers!!!
Thats an old Colbert move.
Ikr
I think he didn't do it because he was afraid he might actually win.
I almost wrote him in on my ballot today
I love this show because it's not clickbait and I think 'wow that's a pretty wierd subject how are they gonna make 20 minutes full of news clips and jokes about that' and then they do
We waited 2 years for the cause of death of my mother AND father. They died of cardiac failure. Then they tried to bill the family for storing the cadavers. Then it took 2 more years to ger their ashes. When we found out they were be used at teaching cadavers. All 7 of my siblings showed up at the processing center with an extremely angry attitude (the men in my families are hardcore bikers). We got the remains in 3 days. The questions are, did we get their remains or ashes from a barbecue fest?
Today I learned that my cat on my left, and my cat on my right, are in fact coroners
The cat on my right is also a coroner in Arkansas. I wonder if she knows your cat? Unfortunately, the cat on my left, left, so I guess he doesn't qualify.
My cat, who has never been in the US, is a coroner in Minnesota.
In arkansas you have to be 18, your cats are not 18 years old.
@@erikahahn5823 Well, not in HUMAN years ...
Al As 57 Foreign cats are taking American cats’ jobs! Alert, alert!
America: Spending billions of dollars for weapons America handling the victims of those weapons: Best I can do is an old garage
@Khashon Haselrig Didn't you watch the video? That just doubles the number of bodies in the garage
Oh, this is the US&A, yeah? So I guess & apparently, this is what you get!
carlos Rivas Lmao ok, bud. Keep on being the reason this country is being destroyed. People like you are ruining it.
carlos Rivas wait you’re fine with bombing other countries but can’t provide closure for families which is just cheap base on taxes discussed? Man I’m glad I live in a civilized society
Doesn't matter whether it was a weapon that killed you are not. The big gulp guy is still in charge of your body.
This is why I will get my M E D I C A L D E G R E E Before entering the field.
The weird and wonderful thing about these clips, they’re educational, they’re funny as hell, and I always somehow forget this is a television production and not a KZhead show, then fucking glen close shows up and I’m like “WOAH HOW DID HE GET THAT ACTRESS” when she literally is cast in like two HBO shows
Most pathologists do not like doing county autopsies. They learn quickly on medical school rotation if they choose pathology, an elective part of rotation in many states, that the county doesn't care unless it hits the news. Thus, they are unimportant and normally underfunded. If they choose to pursue it, there is a lot of work ahead of them. The potential pathologist needs to choose anatomic pathology as their career, and do a fellowship which is three years. Most would do four years of fellowship, as adding on an additional year of a clinical pathology fellowship means being able to do 'general pathology' which is what hospitals and medical research companies look for. They would then need to do an additional year of forensic pathology. So they would be ready to be a forensic pathologist at about thirty, and make less money than a general pathologist that only did a four year fellowship. Add in the fact that a lot of basic pathology is being farmed out of state or country, with only enough pathologists being kept on staff for odd cases and signing off on the farmed out work. Pathology is just not a popular field anymore, the job security is not there and the money is less than some of the other fields. All this is from listening to my father, the pathologist, over the years.
Respect🙏.
In India, we have this government rule that, all passing doctors before they get their UG degree HAVE to work for atleast 1 year in a rural area which the government assigns them. There they act as both the head of a number of local government health clinics that run in every village, but also have to perform autopsy of the area under them.. it makes sure that the flow of doctors into necessary posts doesn't run short. There still are some problems with people voluntarily doing these jobs but atleast they never run out. We also have a separate subject of forensic medicine taught to us in 2nd year UG other than pathology which is yet another subject of 2nd prof.
nantukoprime a lot of these issues post-education, fall upon the county’s board of supervisors/commissioners.
@@angelrios5897 post-education for doctoral qualifications are state by state. There are very few states that will accept forensic pathologists without at least anatomical qualifications which requires the mentioned fellowship from my earlier comment or something comparable. Florida is one, I believe. County's can determine what qualifies as a coroner or medical examiner for their county. As mentioned in the video, this leads to bad examples. If you are talking about the lack of interest in the field among doctors, that has more to do with the corporatization of hospitals and fields of medicine in the US. Look to Quest Diagnostics for what happened to a large portion of pathology work.
I'm sorry.... WHAT?! THIS is how coroners get their job? WHY?! Nothing about this makes any sense whatsoever! You're determining what killed a person and possibly whether or not a criminal investigation takes place as a result, of course you should have some kind of medical background! That's the kind of stuff most people just assume because IT'S COMPLETELY STUPID FOR IT NOT TO WORK THAT WAY!
I assume that it was instituted in a time people could kind of be trusted to elect people with some kind of qualification...
But we need $$ to build a wall!! Much more important than this! Sarcasm of course, cuz this is INSANE!!
Right? Fused with the fact that medical advisors have been begging for a change in the system for 200 years makes you think that the USA is very stagnant. A lot of old laws that made sense back then but need changing in a changing society. Problem is that the minds, attitudes and the idology still partly maintained to this day (eg. through culture) and collide with the progressive ones. Anyway I really dont belive the americans even care enough to push for a shift, so they will in my eyes stay a third world country in disguise.
And who the hell applies to be elected for the job ? "I have no medical background, but I don't mind opening people on my spare time". Isn't it a big red flag in itself ?
They should have at least an associate/bachelor degree for it, since considering the person is already dead the training wouldn't be as difficult like a medical students, who's work is dealing with preventing death. Them having a nursing or doctor degree doesn't eliminate them being corrupt or lying about the cause of death as shown in the video with the people who play with body parts, feed spleens to a dog; also the pay and funding needs to be better to equal the effort of the work for the degree as he mentioned
Plot twist: that license plate was supposed to say "Auto-Psy." Turns out the guy fancies himself a mechanic, and calls himself the Auto Psychic.
This is so insane. In Canada these positions are not elected. That is absurd. Coroners are medical doctors with specialized death investigation training, who have been appointed to investigate sudden deaths. There is a difference between Coroners and Pathologists. Pathologists are medical doctors who are experts in disease and injury. Forensic pathologists have further training and are experts in disease and injury that result in sudden death. Pathologists and forensic pathologists are the medical doctors who perform autopsies, when required. Forensic pathologists may also be appointed as coroners to investigate cases of suspicious death. America, get your shit together. In no way is it acceptable to elect someone with no skills to do these jobs.
"That's just me speaking personally-as well as correctly and objectively" hahaha I'm definitely stealing that
Hahaha doing the same
@@ikecerrada me too. joining the club.
First rule of working in a lab, no food or drink.
Yup and there are damn good reasons for it.
That's not a lab it's an office with a body.
@@pianofry1138 a sex dungeon if u will
he used to bring his dog to the facility and let it run loose. Maybe that rule should have been the first rule in Davidson County (Nashville). I have had my own experience with them that I have only told a few people closest to me from when my husband died and ended up there. I think I will make a post about it here though. That place is a nightmare and they know it too!
Okay, but I just have to say that _Forever_ is genuinely a pretty great show, and the fact that it only got one season is a real shame. 😞
17:30 "epidemics potentially being missed" things that aged horribly
And here I am sitting in Germany, where a coroner needs to be a doctor (meaning six years of study in human medicine at which end you have a government supervised exam resulting in approbation) and then needs to be a medical specialist in pathology (meaning at least another six years of study, which again results in a government supervised exam). WTF America... how?
You be surprised but some High Schools in the states offer an Elective in Foresenic Science & Anatomy. If you take both well you get the idea. I however didn't take both cause in Anatomy I heard they dissected weird shit. That the Teacher at my school was from the Bronx in NYC.
@@katiearbuckle9017 Most universities in Germany have a either a mandatory or voluntary human dissection course, with many leaning towards the mandatory. So most normal doctors know how to spot unnatural causes and are authorized to sign a death certificate. However, if you want to work as a coroner, you need that second 6 year study.
@@Ruhrpottpatriot speaking as a certified forensic pathologist in germany - no, no, no..... 6 years for med school. specializing is not "another 6 years of studies" but learning on the job. as with most ppl, you mix up clinical pathologists with forensic pathologists. spotting unnatural COD is not trained in first year anatomy cutting lessons but in the mandatory forensic pathology course (ever wonder why we are mainly in university cities? yupp, that's why). all doctors are authorized (even obliged) to sign death certificates. if you want to perform an autopsy under criminal law (StPO), two doctors must perform the autopsy with one being board certified specialist ("Facharzt").
wow. I feel like I'm more qualified to be a coroner just because I played through L.A. Noire.
[X] Doubt
Great, now you made me want to go through that game again.
@@CloudsGirl7 it's a good game!
I watched every episode of Rizzoli and Isles. I'm pretty sure I can wing the rest.
My dad didn't want an autopsy and I didn't blame him. So when he died, it was an obvious death after we explained his history of heart issues. He didn't want to get cut open and messed with. I'm glad he didn't get one.
1 of my fav Neil Gaiman quotes "coroner kicks the corpse , if it don't kick back he signs the certificate"
i'm imagining someone being legally dead cause all they did was say "ow, why did you kick me?"
Where is it from ?
@@acHe607 I think from American Gods, but I'm not sure.
malphina starwin i LOVE Neil Gaiman but being a teen I haven’t quite found a non-embarrassing way to read American Gods😂 especially considering the fact my mom wants to read it too
@@avelinek2759 Not sure what you mean, but it shouldn't be embarrassing, unless your parents are big time evangelicals or something. It's a great book, not much explicit stuff in it, really, and it's really approachable. I highly recommend it!
I'm slowly wondering if anything works in the US I mean John talked about literally everything and always beginns with "let's talk about ... and why it has problems"
Erwin Schrödinger check your own country out first, buddy. Guarantee they have their own skeletons being ignore.
@@BeavisHajnos I know my county has problems here and there, but its a far cry from being as fucked up as the US, hell, we usually look to the US as a example on how not to do things.
We all have our problems, but giving unqualified people positions that require qualifications and skill simply because a group of unqualified people said they should do something isn't one of them. Not by a long shot.
Basically everything works it just seems like it doesn’t from an alarmist POV like johns
it’s funny because your country sucks dick comparatively
Well this has aged like fine wine.
Via humour he is actually raising an issue lead by developed countries. As a forensic student I'm damn happy to hear✌ anyway John you are fuckin awesome 😂
50% of comments: non-US citizens outraged about the unbelievably stupid way this works in the US 50% of comments: " _Forever_ was a good show, dammit!"
I belong to 100 % of the comments. So proud. Gonna tell my kids about this
You forgot the 75% that are dead bodies in need of examination.
They're right, though
What percentage consists of US citizens outraged at the unbelievably stupid way this works in the US? Because I'm in that percentage.
IamMe Some of us really want to leave this shitshow but have other reasons to stay or lack of resources to get out safely
Thanks John. If we have to eventually find out what a shitty country we actually live in, we might as well be entertained in the process. Laughing is more fun than crying. Keep up the good work!
If you need a tv show to tell you what America is then you haven't been paying attention.....
@aguy654 idiot. If germany bows to the US why do they refuse to up their military spending as the US demands? Why do they get their gas from russia and not the US? You are just another american with zero knowledge of how anything works. You live in a bubble of ignorance. But hey, some say that ignorance is bliss. So good for you 👍
@aguy654 it seems as though America is supposed to be perfect
Where would you rather live Mike?
I'm from germany (and a medical doctor) and I never imagined there was something like a coroner in a civilized country. Wtf
Forever had only one season and i‘m still mad about it being cancelled.
This program, and this is true, in Europe is called: weekly reminders, why we should be happy not to live in the US
dont call me out for liveing in the country your right but still man
No. This show is about how we can fix things to make America a place you'd like living in...🤔🇺🇸
@@tinabrown6207 im pretty sure john oliver is british
@@sapnupua5Yes, he hails from England but he became a naturalized American citizen.
@@tinabrown6207 ah that makes sense
Who needs sleep when I have John Oliver
John Oliver is safer than cocaine.
Who needs sleep? I run on sarcasm and spite.
🤷🏾♂️
nice pfp
I'm putting it to watch later. Tired af.
Just a tip from one of youre british cousin's america STOP MAKING EVERY OFFICE ELECTABLE!!!!
I apologize for America, most of us are lazy.
Another problem is virtually no one votes in local elections, so it largely goes unnoticed. The majority of people probably couldn’t tell you the coroners name, and I know lots that don’t even know it’s an elected position.
Oh, I'm sorry over here we believe in DEMOCRACY!!! "Oh, I do say you should have a medical professional looking at your dead bodies, old chap. Leaving it up for the peasants to decide how a person died is absolutely barbaric! Pip pip, cheero loves." We don't need no aristocratic inbred royal surgeons telling us not to feed spleens to our hungry dogs! (Before everyone gets too mad at me this is a joke)
Joe Jefferson I didn't even know we elected these people
and then they wonder why no one bothers to vote in the presidential elections... they've all got voter's exhaustion
oh god. the more I watch these, the more I regret living in Tennessee.
John, PLEASE do a follow up on this story! There’s more interest than ever in all things criminology due to all the shows about it! Seems to me that can help to capitalize the absolute need for it..publicly shaming legislators seems to be the only way to fix deep seated messes. You know; it’s the American way!
The only update I can give you is that Shawn Lynn Parcells recently plead guilty to wire fraud and was sentenced to 69 months in prison.
"We almost made it to our 11 year wedding anniversary." "I'm sorry, what happened?" "Oh, well we never got married. I don't know why you'd think that we did. I just thought about reaching our 11th anniversary." I mean, that's pretty close...
She was on the bus, I almost asked her out.
Sounds like a pretty depressing statement.
While on the topic of changing the death industry, "ask a mortician" is a great youtube channel that covers a lot of death-related issues worth being informed about. Highly recommend.
Hi fellow deathling
Yes!
She's amazing. Love her work and quirky sense of humour.
Love her
For my biological anthropology class, I had to read a book call "Dead Men Do Tell Tales", and while it was interesting to get some insight from a forensic anthropologist about famous and mundane cases, I knew the last chapter would remain soberingly relevant decades later. Forensic anthropology is a vital and unappreciated job very few people are going into. Many problem have obvious solutions and offer significant benefit for a small cost. Unfortunately almost every future problem can be summed up by the Onion's video "Memorial Honors Victims Of Imminent Dam Disaster".
As a born and raised Missouri resident, everytime I hear Missouri in the news, a part of me dies.
This is one of the rarest of rare occasions that someone was able to genuinely upstage and compliment John Oliver's flawless satire delivery.
9:30 poor Dr. Harlan. His dog ate the body's spleen and kidney, while the cat got his tongue!
And yet they have money for illegal immigration
@@tloukgaugelo2635 lmao what does immigration have to do with anything in this segment?
@@tloukgaugelo2635 Gregor Gisy, a German politician, had this to say: "do you honestly think that we would spend more money on those things if it werent for the immigrants?" To which the answer is: of course not. thats not how politics work. The problem is that the people look to their sides and at what the other guys have, instead of looking up and at what the ruling ultra rich take from everyone else. Think about it brother!
Tlou Kgaugelo Thanks Captain Obvious Troll. 🙄
Apparently in America everyone's electable for anything, even when they're not qualified.
this show is amazing and very accurate. Out of 92 students who i graduated from medical school with none of us went into pathology. i think allowing medical students to have more exposure to the specialty early on or making pathology a required rotation would certainly be a good place to start to assist with increasing the number of forensic pathologists.
I agree (NZ doctor). It is slowly attracting more due to work hours and pathologists having direct patient contact with family and doing biopsies themselves.
I agree. I think part of the problem is that medicine as a whole tends to focus on living people and how to keep them that way. There should be a requirement that medical students have to have more contact with cadavers. Otherwise, once people die, doctors tend to wash their hands of them.
Two fun facts: In the last KY coroner's election I voted in, there was a Republican nominee and a Democratic nominee. I thought the Dem looked marginally less unqualified (yes, that is the most appropriate phrasing under the circumstances), but it's KY, so the Rep won. A friend randomly died in her sleep one night. She had a lot of chronic health issues but had been more or less fine for a couple years. The person just wrote down "heart attack" without any testing. No idea how she died.
This program is close to the heart of anyone who has suffered a loss in the family. Parent lost without an investigation is a tragedy.
Oh my goodness. In Pakistan, we have Drs who perform an autopsy. Only Govt. Drs are entitled to perform it. I am amazed at the condition of the US.
@RESPECT MY AUTHORITY Greatest country in what? Look at your people and at your society, look at your president, look at your healthcare. You are a country built on the bones and guts of the natives, and even if you get the best economy in the earth and the best services, you are far from being even close to great.
@RESPECT MY AUTHORITY"US beats you guys out at every turn" you sound like you're in high school and you're BIG MAD cuz someone pointed out your schools team sucks. Grow up. America isn't the GREATESS just because you want it to be.
@RESPECT MY AUTHORITY the only point where americans are the real number 1 is the amount of adults believing in angels. you are far away from being the greatest country on earth and if you keep up the way youre going now, the USA will be gone in the next few years.
Me too.
Rao Junaid Iqbal yep, here in the US it's just, well, crap
Tracy Morgan: "I ain't dying by Walmart." A call back to when he was nearly killed by a Walmart employed semi truck driver.
Oh damb! I completely missed the reference! Good catch! That was a few years back now!
Thank you! We kept hearing "By no Mormont" :|
Soooo many people will "die by Walmart" though Tracy.
When he said "I ain't dying by..." fully expected a reference to that accident, but all I remembered was that they were in a limo.. I totally forgot that it was a Walmart truck that hit them.
Little late ,I'm new to the channel. I love that you find topics to talk about that others and myself aren't aware of. While I may be aware of other things, the things we aren't aware of go unnoticed/under the rug. People just assume it's being taken care of and properly.
That man looked at the interviewer like he was thinking:"My dog will eat you...."
@terracotta True, I just didn't want to go that evil. But he does look very creepy like that :P.
He's got a hell of a poker face, lol.
i was just waiting for the reporter to ask if his dog ate his tongue as well XD
Europe: Our medical system is almost criminally underfunded. US: 👀
The reference to private autopsy work was that it was being performed by the same clowns, so even a for-profit approach hasn't improved standards.
Europe isn't a country.
@@LivLaugh But there's the European Union which funds for example transnational medical research and many experts say by far not enough. Of course the health care systems vary from state to state but many of them are also underfunded. Even though I dare to say that every single one of those works still better than the one in the US. At least a broken leg here does not mean you'll perhaps face bankruptcy in the near future and as a EU citizen you will be treated in any of the member states.
@@asozialesnetzwerk Amen
US: hold my big gulp
13:08 My face about half the time that I hear a clip that John plays on whatever episode I'm watching.
And here I thought Riverdale was unrealistic with every character but seems like it would be really easy to bribe a coroner.
I looked to my left like John said, and my dog was just sitting there looking at me and I said “You could be a coroner in Arkansas”
*woof*
With everything that has happened, a dog running for coroner isn't the craziest idea lol
As long as he doesn't eat any organs
I'll believe he isn't a criminal. Are *sure* he's 18 though? LMAOooo😂👌😹🐾
@@ivechang6720 in dog years probably
"And... what's yer 'sperience with doin' autopsies, son?" "Uh.. I cut tomatoes at Subway for a summer." "Yer the most qualified candidate yet... Yer hired, boy!" - Arkansas.
Same
Aaaaand this is eerily relevant today as they're JUST NOW getting to potential corona autopsies.
Ducky from NCIS is my favorite he’s so chill and interesting yet still super sassy
Listen, local democracy is absolutely laudable... but surely someone sees a problem with having sheriffs, county comptrollers, judges and coroners (jobs requiring a high degree of specialized training and education) be chosen by a literal popularity contest, right?
Apparently we don’t realize this at all 😬
Well, sane people do.
When people care about something enough to research it, democracy works fine. People just don't care about looking things up or learning things about candidates.
That's when dictators like Hitler and Mussolini are ELECTED! Fascists leaders are 99% elected by fucking idiots!
Let’s also not forget when someone new is elected (especially if from the opposite party) a entire department might change and they fire and hire new personnel based on politics alone.
Holy shit I live in Pensacola and the storage unit with the human body parts is right down the road from my house! (That was some _Silence of the Lambs_ shit!) _Why do I feel flattered John mentioned it?!!_ 🤣😂
Probably for the same reason why I felt flattered that he mentioned the (former) sheriff that was being accused of doctoring coroner's reports. While I don''t live down the road from that jail, my parents worked for him and only recently has he been voted out
You feel flattered cuz John is a hero and you should feel fear cuz...location of body parts from your house!!
Yep. You should probably move away
Likewise for me about the brain that was brought to the doctor’s house!
@@ezelfrancisco1349 Agreed. Between the abortion clinic bombings and the shooting of the abortion doctors... it's a town full of retards.
This pairs up quite well with the story of the mortician who shoved a ceramics kiln, not even a furnace, full of bodies, and then just shoveling zip lock bags of mixed remains to give to the mourning relatives. This happened in the 80’s so one should think it’s the norm or that oversight hasn’t improved, which it has. But it does kind of showcase the problem: all too often these problems don’t get fixed, until it’s a true tragedy.
Someone is 'almost' planning on doing something about it!
We can't even afford proper lighting for autopsies? Is our system (yes, our system) so broken that we can't even evaluate the deceased in a proper way?
Old Guy: There is no way to tell how he died. Me: Personally, my money's on 'burned in a car behind a police station'
@Mentally Awakened This is from the video.
Mad Mar that’s obvious, and while it doesn’t look good, the coroner was right, there isn’t any way to tell how the fire started, which is why he labeled it as an accident
@@brodanquennell2810 I didn't mean it wasn't an accident, I was just making a joke about the video. It is supposed to be obvious. That is the joke.
Mad Mar sorry, my bad man, don’t know how I messed that up, just an idiot here
@@brodanquennell2810 No problem.
Ohh this kinda helps make sense of why so many murders go unsolved. The body people basically say he died, but it's not suspicious and the cops essentially don't even bother after that. We should probably work on improving this system. How many people have got iced and no one batted an eye cause the corner said it was natural or an accident. crazy
Totally true right there
All natural bullets
As much of a potential problem as that is, that has nothing to do with unsolved murder cases. That statistic refers to the number of actual homicide cases (cases where the examiner *did* raise concerns) that aren't solved. Factor in the number of cases that aren't even known to be homicides because of the kind of incompetence reported in this video, and it's a worrying number.
this is just 1 out of 1000 issues that we have in this world. Which 1 is the priority here?
We need to start asking question about every system in our country.
Kagome90 John Oliver seems to be doing it. We just need to act on what he finds
Funeral Director here... we deal with MEs and coroners every day. They are dedicated people, but horribly overworked. This is why I pay absolutely no attention to the "leading causes of death" because I know death certs are rushed and not really investigated. Doctors generally guess, and MEs/coroners generally do a quick investigation and done - when they even take the case at all. Most death certificates regarding Covid are without testing which I why I seriously doubt whether they are real covid deaths and not other diseases. The entire system is massively flawed. I've even had doctors ask ME what the cause of death was.
A single light bulb OVER MY DEAD BODY!
SUCH a missed opportunity there.
so happy I found this comment
"I literally, almost became a neurosurgeon. I mean if I had just gone to medical school, I would be a neurosurgeon now." 🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦
Wow... *almost* a neurosurgeon... He could at least be honest enough to claim just that he *almost* became a doctor... or almost a med-student!
At that moment I rolled my eyes so badly I even saw my optical nerves.
That's nothing, I almost become is beautiful runway model.
Of all professions, it would make sense to legally require medical examiners and coroners to *at least* be certified in the field.
One thing to remember about death is that it's not the opposite of life. The opposite of death is birth and life is the time between birth and death.
In high school, I had a classmate whose dad was the state medical examiner (New Hampshire). He mentioned that people were upset that he was the highest paid state employee (as opposed to a college football coach, I guess). His reply was that in his role, he was a medical doctor, lawyer, and expert witness rolled into one.
"in Arkansas, there is barely a bar at all [to become a coroner]" No wonder our town coroner pronounces everything as suicides or heart attacks.
Perhaps you should send a letter to the mayor asking for his/her resignation
I second that🤨.
@@johnny_eth I'm not for sure, but I think my family already has, after he pronounced my grandmother's death as a suicide and we had to go into the investigation outselves to prove it wasn't.
Update, even though we could prove it wasn't suicide AND the doctors agreed with us, the coroner refused to change it on the official report and death certificate.