Doctors paid by church give defense

A former member of O.J. Simpson's "dream team" defense says Lisa

McPherson's death was accidental.

By THOMAS C. TOBIN

St. Petersburg Times

March 7, 2000

CLEARWATER -- As prosecutors consider whether to proceed with criminal

charges in the death of Scientologist Lisa McPherson, the Church of

Scientology on Monday presented two nationally known pathologists who said

they have scientific evidence that the 1995 death was accidental.

Drs. Michael M. Baden and Cyril H. Wecht also suggested their work is so

conclusive the case should be dropped.

Their primary conclusion: McPherson, 36, died suddenly and unpredictably

of a blood clot in her left lung that originated from a knee bruise she

suffered in a minor auto accident 17 days earlier.

"This is Forensic Pathology 101," said Baden, once part of O.J. Simpson's

"dream team" defense. "This is not complicated."

Wecht said the area behind McPherson's left knee, where the clot formed,

is a common site for blood clots to develop. He said it traveled into

McPherson's heart and lodged in her left lung.

"This is a very common cause of death in America," he said. "It remains a

major problem in medicine."

Baden and Wecht said medical evidence proves McPherson did not die from

anything done by staffers at Scientology's Fort Harrison Hotel, who, after

the auto accident, tried for 17 days to nurse McPherson through a severe

mental breakdown.

Prosecutors have questioned some of the methods of the Scientology staff,

including forcing food and medication down McPherson's throat and giving

her prescription medication and injections without medical licenses. But

Wecht and Baden dismissed these as the harmless actions of people trying

to help. They said they did not warrant criminal prosecution.

The doctors, hired two years ago by Scientology, also asserted there is no

evidence that McPherson was dehydrated or malnourished.

Their statements at a news conference Monday come at an unusual juncture

in a case that finds Scientology's Clearwater entity charged with two

felonies in McPherson's death -- abuse of a disabled adult and practicing

medicine without a license.

Prosecutors are reviewing whether the case will hold up after Medical

Examiner Joan Wood revised her opinion on Feb. 16 by changing the manner

of death from "undetermined" to "accident."

Baden and Wecht said they flew to Clearwater to respond to a recent St.

Petersburg Times editorial about the case. In doing so, the two doctors

provided insight into the size and scope of the church's defense team.

Wecht said six additional forensic pathologists had independently reached

the same conclusions he and Baden reached.

But their words also seemed directed at the office of State Attorney

Bernie McCabe. Wecht said McCabe's office would be "irresponsible" and

"less than meticulous" to ignore the doctors' work.

Doug Crow, one of McCabe's top assistants, said if someone wants to

present information about the case, "I don't think we'd ever refuse that

type of information."

He said the office was continuing its review, but noted that Wood's

revised autopsy "still made a finding of severe dehydration."

The church also must contend with testimony from one of its own members,

Dr. David Minkoff, who told prosecutors in 1998 that McPherson was

"severely dehydrated" when he pronounced her dead.

In 1996, Wood said the blood clot that caused McPherson's death was due to

"bed rest and severe dehydration." She has since removed that phrase and

listed "severe dehydration" as one of several "final anatomical

diagnoses."

She has not explained her decision.

Baden, a former chief medical examiner in New York City, has played roles

in some of the country's most celebrated death cases. He participated in

the re-autopsy of civil rights leader Medgar Evers. He led the 1979

congressional re-examination of evidence in the assassination of President

Kennedy, and worked on the autopsies of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.,

actor John Belushi and former baseball manager Billy Martin.

Wecht, a lawyer and the county coroner in Pittsburgh, also worked on the

1979 Kennedy assassination commission and is a frequent commentator on

major death cases.

Both doctors said they spoke Monday because of a March 3 Times editorial

that said the church's experts put pressure on Wood to change her

findings. It also called for Wood to explain her revision and encouraged

McCabe to continue the prosecution.

Jack Reed, who edits Times editorials in north Pinellas, said the

editorial board "is the newspaper's voice on public issues."

"Our editorial position is that a jury should weigh the evidence and

arrive at a verdict," Reed said.

Wecht said no church expert had any discussion with Wood. He said medical

examiners review their findings all the time, and it would be

"intellectually arrogant" to do otherwise.

"It is not done in any kind of surreptitious or clandestine fashion," he