Forensic expert steps down

By Wen Ya Source:Global Times Published: 2013-8-19 0:48:01

A famous female legal medical specialist claimed Saturday that she had resigned from her position as vice president of the Chinese Forensic Medicine Association (CFMA) as she feels very disappointed with the current forensic medicine in China.

Wang Xuemei, 57, also a vice director of the technology information research center of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, said in her resignation video that her name could not be related to an academic organization that offers "ridiculous and irresponsible" conclusions.

"I can't change the current situation of China's forensic field and I have to resign," Wang said in her video, adding that her resignation is related to the association's handling of the death of a college student.

The student, Ma Yue, died of electrocution after he fell onto subway tracks  on August 23, 2010. A  CFMA appraisal said that "no alcohol was found in Ma's blood and the toxicology analysis is normal. There are no wounds on his body. The signs prove that he died of electrocution."

The police said Ma was not murdered and the Beijing Xicheng District Administration of Work Safety declared that Ma's death was an accident.

However, Ma's family continued to seek answers in electrocution. Ma's mother Meng Zhaohong visited Wang one year after her son's death.

According to a photo of Ma's body offered by Meng, Wang agreed with the conclusion that Ma was electrocuted to death, but she said a wound on Ma's jaw shows that he was electrocuted before falling onto the rail, and Wang concluded that Ma died of further electrocution after falling onto the rail.

Wang thought the CFMA appraisal is "ridiculous and irresponsible" and she "couldn't stand it."

If Wang's conclusion is right, the Beijing subway station would be responsible for Ma's death, Meng said.

An anonymous court legal medical specialist, who conducted Ma's autopsy, told the Global Times that "Wang is not clear about the case. Her judgment is made just based on photographs, which is not solid."

Meng revisited Wang on August 9, hoping Wang to issue an expert opinion on Ma's case, and Wang did agree with that.

"Wang's resignation is her own choice and has nothing to do with me," Meng said.

Wang's assistant Liu Lei told the Beijing News on Saturday that Wang won't respond to the media on the issue of her resignation anymore.

"Wang's resignation shows that her vocational ethics conflict with the reality and that even legal workers are unsatisfied with the current legal system," Wang Zhenyu, a research fellow with the China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times.

Some legal medical specialists make false conclusions for various reasons, but several individual cases do not prove that the whole Chinese forensic field is bad, Feng Yujun, a professor with the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times.



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