She agreed to come back and was hopeful that things had changed, especially after she was asked to chair a new diversity committee.
Therefore, she said she did not expect any controversy when she signed on to the study on bias among forensic pathologists, led by Itiel Dror, a cognitive neuroscientist who specializes in expert bias and bias. The authors examined ten years of death certificates for children in Nevada and found that the deaths of black children were a little more likely to be classified as murders, rather than accidents, compared to the deaths of white children.
They also sent a death scenario to forensic pathologists, finding that those who responded were more likely to fight it as a murder if the child in the scenario was black and cared for by the mother’s boyfriend than when the child was white and by a grandmother.
The authors said the study was merely a starting point for research and suggested that forensic pathologists further investigate how and when contextual information should be used, and be transparent when it is used.
Four of the authors of the study were forensic pathologists, including Drs. Carter.
In February, dr. Peterson, the potential witness of the defense in the case of Mr. Floyd, filed an ethical complaint against all four, accusing them of ‘conduct contrary to the best interests and purposes’ of the profession.
“By basically accusing each member of ‘unconscious’ racism, an indictment that is impossible to prove or refute, members will in future have to deal with this false issue when they testify in court,” he wrote in the complaint, of which the copy by The Tye.
Dr. Peterson did not respond to a message left at his office, where a spokesman said he was on vacation. Ethical complaints were supposed to be confidential, and the accused doctors did not want to talk about it, or did not respond to a request for comment.
The aging reaction to the study prompted dr. Carter surprises.
“I was a little blown away by a very angry reaction,” she said. ‘And I’m not sure if everyone really read the article for what it is. This is an article that suggests, let’s be aware of this, let’s be proactive in this. I do not think anyone, any colored doctor, would say, ‘Gee, this is earth-shattering news.’ ‘