State medical
commission orders probation for coroner in bootcamp
case
BY MARC CAPUTO AND PHIL LONG
August 9, 2006
Dr. Charles Siebert,
who performed the controversial autopsy on a boy who
died after an altercation with guards at a Panama
City boot camp, was put on probation today by the
Medical Examiners Commission, which found he
committed errors in numerous autopsies.
The commission,
opting against a lower panel's recommendation to
suspend Siebert, voted 4-1 in favor of probation and
ruled that he should pay for a minder to
double-check his work until the end of his term,
which expires in June.
Siebert said he would
discuss the ruling with his attorneys, but has
maintained that any errors were not intentional and
were minor.
Of the cases Siebert
was rapped for: a 2004 autopsy report he signed off
on that said a woman who died in a Hurricane Ivan
tornado had ''unremarkable'' testicles.
While the commission
reviewed nearly every case handled by Siebert, it
didn't concern itself with the death of 14-year-old
Martin Lee Anderson, who was manhandled by guards at
the Bay County boot camp Jan. 5 before he died. The
commission held off on probing Martin's death since
the case has not been resolved in the courts.
Siebert ruled the
death was the result of natural causes stemming from
sickle-cell trait, a blood disorder primarily
affecting African-Americans. A wide-array of experts
bashed the finding, which Gov. Jeb Bush said
''defied common sense.'' Bush appointed a special
prosecutor to handle the case and urged for a second
autopsy by Tampa's medicl examiner, Vernard Adams.
Adams found that
Martin had died from suffocation, brought on by his
rough treatment by the guards when they used ammonia
capsules, apparently in a failed effort to revive
him.
No criminal charges
have been brought, and attorneys for the boot camp
guards say their clients are innocent anyway because
they were following established procedures.
The attorney for
Martin's family, Benjamin Crump, said he had hoped
for a more severe penalty for Siebert. Still, he
said, it's a step forward.
''This is a very big
statement,'' Crump said. ``The commission had a
tough job and we're pleased they disciplined him for
his dereliction.''
