The death investigation system in the U.S. has some serious flaws, according to an ongoing investigation by ProPublica and other news organizations. According to ProPublica, the system lacks funding, consistent standards, government oversight and enough qualified people. There are few people certified as forensic pathologists, which means they have studied what happens to the body after death and are more qualified to determine how a person died.

One of the most vulnerable populations is the elderly population -- and it is growing. Almost one-third of the country's population will be older than age 60 within a few years. ProPublica found that this vulnerable population is more vulnerable because cases of elder abuse, neglect and wrongful death can go unnoticed because rarely are autopsies or death investigations performed on deceased elderly people. 

This may well be due to ageism as some researchers have found. Many doctors will accept that an elderly person died of "natural causes" because they were elderly, but that is not always the case. Nursing home neglect and elder abuse may go unnoticed because a doctor in most states does not even have to see the body of an elderly person to determine the cause of death. This means that the doctor may assume how the person died without looking to see if signs of abuse or poor care, such as infected bed sores, are present.

The next post will further discuss this issue.

Source: ProPublica, "Gone Without a Case: Suspicious Elder Deaths Rarely Investigated," Chisun Lee and A.C. Thompson and Carl Byker of PBS Frontline, Dec. 21, 2011