Getting Away with Murder: How Medical Examiners Explain Suspicious Deaths

Stefan Timmermans

Wednesday, 16 Apr 2008 at 8:00 pm – Sun Room, Memorial Union

Stefan Timmermans, professor of sociology at UCLA, one of the world's leading medical ethnographers. His most recent book, Postmortem: How Medical Examiners Explain Suspicious Deaths, is based on three years of observing medical examiners perform autopsies. His research bridges medical sociology and science studies. Specific research interests include how sudden, unexpected deaths are dealt with in Western societies and how change occurs in contemporary health care. Timmermans is also coauthor of The Gold Standard: The Challenge of Evidence-Based Medicine and Standardization in Health Care and author of Sudden Death and the Myth of CPR.

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This lecture was made possible in part by the generosity of F. Wendell Miller, who left his entire estate jointly to Iowa State University and the University of Iowa. Mr. Miller, who died in 1995 at age 97, was born in Altoona, Illinois, grew up in Rockwell City, graduated from Grinnell College and Harvard Law School and practiced law in Des Moines and Chicago before returning to Rockwell City to manage his family's farm holdings and to practice law. His will helped to establish the F. Wendell Miller Trust, the annual earnings on which, in part, helped to support this activity.

Cosponsored By:

• Anthropology
• Criminal Justice Club
• Miller Lectures Fund
• Sociology
• Sociology Club
• Committee on Lectures (funded by Student Government)