Before CSI, There Was Dr. Milton Helpern
This episode is from the WNYC archives. It may contain language which is no longer politically or socially appropriate.
This episode is from the WNYC archives. It may contain language which is no longer politically or socially appropriate.
Dr. Milton Helpern, New York City Chief Medical Examiner (M. E.) is interviewed by Seymour N. Siegel, Director of Radio Communications for the city and head of WNYC. Siegel describes what one might read in the City police blotter and the investigation that the Medical Examiner's office would undertake in the case of a suspicious death. The M.E. is also concerned with medical cases that are not fatal, but there is a legal question at hand. Dr. Helpern, the man who 'wrote the book' on forensic pathology, explains what the Medical Examiner's office does and that it deals with more than just murder, but all unnatural deaths like accidents and suicides as well.
Dr. Helpern describes the types of tests they do and what exactly forensic medicine is. He also talks about what forensic medicine in Europe, and how it differs from the United States where "our work is entirely concerned with sudden, suspicious and violent death."
The Chief Medical Examiner is pleased to describe his new six-story building for his crew on 1st Avenue next to Belvue Hospital now under construction. There, he explains, he'll be able to deal with bodies exposed to radioactivity, a Cold War consideration. While he has no official connection to any medical schools, he is the head of forensic medicine at NYU.
Siegel raises the coming meeting of medical examiners from around the world in New York, the second international meeting of forensic medicine in 1960, and asks Dr. Helpern what major issues are on his mind.
Helpern says there is difficulty in getting trained medical personnel for forensic work as well as finding toxicologists.
Audio courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives WNYC Collection
WNYC archives id: 72718
Municipal archives id: LT8470
