1.7: Dr. Charles Norris and Alexander Gettler

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\):Dr. Norris (right) and Alexander Gettler (left) Courtesy the National Institute of Health

Dr. Charles Norris, born 1867 to a wealthy Philadelphia family, who had studied in Berlin and Vienna, was a physician in New York in the early part of the 20th century. He was keenly aware that the City of New York lacked a competent means by which deaths were investigated, autopsies were conducted, and the means, manner, and cause of death determined. In fact, there were no requirements that a coroner was a doctor of any kind or had any previous experience dealing with death and dead bodies. The only motivation for a person doing the job of coroner was the money they would be paid, and they were not above the occasional graft. Most often, in cases where death was not apparent, no investigation was conducted and therefore would be listed as unknown. This would be an ideal situation for the corruption that gripped New York politics at the time. Dr. Norris’ time spent in Europe exposed him to the professional medical examiner systems there, and he knew it would work in New York as well. Upon his return to the United States, Dr. Norris convinced like-minded government officials who wanted to replace the current city coroner system with a professionally trained group of city personnel who could competently investigate cause of death. Therefore, in 1918, Dr. Norris was appointed as the Chief Medical Examiner at Bellevue Hospital in New York. He remained in this capacity until his death in 1935 in spite of the many obstacles and false accusations levied at him by various mayors of the City of New York who preferred the controllability of the previous city coroner system. There was no doubt that Mayor “Red Mike” Hylan preferred the more corruptible city coroner system who would continue to do “favors” for him. He found that Dr. Norris was incorruptible and a man who was driven by the desire to have a professional Medical Examiner’s Office that would investigate deaths based solely on truth and science. Mayor Hylan therefore cut the budget for Dr. Norris’ office in an effort to force the office to close. The major obstacle to this plan was the fact that Dr. Norris came from a wealthy family and he continued to run the office by funding it himself. Mayor “Jimmy” Walker did not oppose Dr. Norris’ efforts, but he did nothing to restore funding to the office to make it viable. Finally, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, who erroneously believed Dr. Norris had embezzled nearly $200,000.00, initiated a criminal investigation of which Dr. Norris was exonerated.

Dr. Norris knew that he would need a good team to make his dream of having a truly professional and scientific agency hired Alexander Gettler, a brilliant chemist, to create the first toxicology laboratory in the country. Alexander Gettler was a Jewish immigrant from Poland who had studied chemistry at Columbia University. His many research papers are still being used in support of the science of forensic toxicology. Alexander Gettler remained with the New York Office of the Medical Examiner until 1959.

Dr. Norris’ greatest triumph was in gaining the respect of the New York Police Department, who, at first being skeptical of the role of forensic science in solving crimes, began to see Dr. Norris and his staff as partners in solving crimes rather than rivals. With this association, the New York Police Department and the Office of the Medical Examiner not only solved current crimes but also solved cases that were previously listed as unsolvable.

Even though the pressure and stress placed upon Dr. Norris by the various mayors of the City of New York ultimately contributed to his death by heart failure in 1935, the work that he started, along with the convictions of a dedicated staff, gave this country the model of a professional Medical Examiners Office that is still followed today.

Your author highly recommends that documentary The Poisoners Handbook (2013) by the Public Broadcasting Service, based on the book by Deborah Blum. It is an exceptionally well-produced and highly informative documentary on Dr. Norris and Alexander Gettler’s efforts to create the first professional Medical Examiner’s Office and the roadblocks they faced. The link to the documentary may be found in the reference section of this chapter.