A 94-year-old woman dies in the hospital after having a convulsion. The case becomes the business of the medical examiner's office when no one will sign her death certificate. Dr. G finds no evidence of a heart attack or stroke. Could the woman's death be related to a childhood incident where she drank lie soap, or was it a complication of her recent hip surgery?A 24-year-old man falls off his bicycle onto the street and subsequently dies. He wasn't wearing a helmet, but a witness to the accident reported that the cyclist seemed to collapse before crashing. His mother says that prior to the accident, the man was acting as if he knew he was going die. Did he die from a head injury, was his death the result of his preexisting heart condition, or could he have been engaging in high risk behaviors that his family was unaware of?A 28-year-old stripper collapses in her home and refuses to go to the hospital. Later, she is found dead in bed. Her brother reveals that the woman used be a man, but recently had a sex change. Needle marks are found on her breasts, but no drugs are found in her system. Dr. G finds that silicone leaks from the puncture marks, but the woman had no breast implants. Had the woman been injecting her breasts with silicone, and did this somehow cause her death?

The Chain of Life and Death

Jan Garavaglia

Who Is Watching the Children?

The Mystery of the Haunted Crossing

An 82-year-old woman appears to have committed suicide by overdosing on painkillers, but Dr. G finds evidence that suggests that she may have died of an heart attack.A former homeless man is found dead in his home the morning after complaining of a headache. Dr. G must find out how he died, but the 50-year-old man has no documented medical history.A 35-year-old woman dies in her sleep, and the hospital has no answer as to why she died. Dr G. works for three months to find a cause of death for her distraught family.

Redemption

Dr. G preforms an autopsy on an alleged hit-and-run victim found in a parking lot, but finds no evidence of vehicular injury on the 41-year-old man's body. Could his alcoholism have had a role in his death?Dr. G investigates the death of a an 88-year-old woman found dead at the bottom of staircase outside her apartment building. Head trauma indicates that woman did not die of natural causes. Did she accidentally fall down the stairs or was she attacked?A man with a genetic disorder dies from a brain tumor at his 35th birthday party. His mother, who has another son with the same disorder, requests an autopsy to find out whether the tumor was linked to the genetic disorder. If so, is the brother of the victim at risk of dying in the same manner?

Hit and Run

A depressed 39-year-old man is found dead in his home after complaining that he doesn't feel well. Dr. G. rules out suicide when she finds that he died from a severe case of pneumonia, most likely the result of an immune deficiency. When his blood tests positive for HIV, his ex-wife must also be tested to see if she is HIV positive as well.A 52-year-old English tourist has a heated argument with his family and walks back to his hotel. On his way back, he collapses on the sidewalk. Dr. G's autopsy confirms that he died of a heart attack, but his family worries that the stress from the argument may have played a role in his death.A 49-year-old man calls 911 complaining of a severe headache, but the paramedics find nothing wrong with him and leave. Later, the man is found dead by his girlfriend. Dr. G works to find out how the man died, and if his death could have been prevented if he had been taken to the hospital.

Anger Management

In August of 1995, when Dr. G worked in Bexar County, Texas, a pile of human bones was found at a supposedly haunted railroad crossing. Dr. G could tell that the victim was a teenager, but could not determine the sex. A DNA test said that the victim was male, but a 12-year-old girl told authorities that the bones were her sister's and that her sister had been murdered by her abusive mother. Her claim was unable to be verified and the authorities thought she was lying. The case went unsolved. Two years later, Dr. G found that the skull matched that of the girl reported missing, but why did the DNA test come back male, and how will that affect the case against the girl's mother?A 53-year-old man doesn't show up for work, and is found dead in his apartment. A neighbor says that the man was weak and dizzy the night before. Could the man's obesity have played a role in his death?

An infant and his two-year-old sister are found dead in a house shared by two families. At first, they are believed to have died from carbon monoxide poisoning or cold medicine overdoses. When Dr. G. examines the infant, she finds no apparent cause of death. However, when she examines the two-year-old, she finds teeth imprints on the insides of the child's mouth, indicating that someone had suffocated her. Since the girl's infant brother has no teeth, Dr. G assumes that he too was suffocated. After the police verify the alibis of all the adults living in the house, a 12-year-old girl from the other family living in the house becomes the prime suspect. At first she admits to committing the crime, but later denies it. The neighborhood is outraged that the police would accuse a child of murder, so the girl is sent to live with her grandparents. Not long after the girl moves in with her grandparents, the family dog is found dead. Dr. G must do an autopsy on the dog to find out whether it too has a been suffocated, and if that will be a significant piece of evidence in convincing a jury that the girl is guilty.A 25-year-old pregnant mother checks into a homeless shelter, and reports that she has ovarian cancer. A week later, she falls ill and dies on the way to the hospital. Dr. G first checks the woman's ovaries, but finds no evidence that the woman ever had ovarian cancer. The woman was overweight and had an enlarged heart, which meant that she was at risk of having high blood pressure and and developing blood clots. Were these risk factors what caused the young mother's untimely death?

A decomposing body is found in a pond, and a tent is found in the nearby woods. Dr. G performs the autopsy in the morgue's decomposition room, but finds few clues other than fingerprints, and mouthwash in the stomach. A wallet containing identification is found in the tent, and the fingerprints confirm the identity of the victim. According to the 39-year-old man's friends, he had a drinking problem. Had the man been consuming mouthwash to get drunk, and did this play a role in his death?After a panicked babysitter's 911 call, a 17-month-old baby is found unconscious. The baby dies on the way to the hospital. Dr. G finds evidence that the baby was asphyxiated, and the babysitter claims that the child's neck was pinned between a bed frame and a playpen in a freak accident. Dr. G sends field investigators to the babysitter's house to re-create the incident so she can compare the babysitter's story to her autopsy findings. Will the re-creation confirm the babysitter's story, or will it indicate that she may be guilty of murder?A 52-year-old English tourist has a heated argument with his family and walks back to his hotel. On his way back, he collapses on the sidewalk. Dr. G's autopsy confirms that he died of a heart attack, but his family worries that the stress from the argument may have played a role in his death.

Dark Waters

Police patrolling the night streets hear gunshots and head to the scene. They find a nude middle-aged man in parking lot lying face down in a puddle of blood. When the body reaches the morgue, Dr. G cannot find a bullet wound. When the police search the man's apartment, they find tissues soaked with blood. Could the man have coincidently died from a medical condition at the same time that unrelated gunshots were fired nearby?A 54-year-old theme park security guard calls his girlfriend from his cellular phone. His speech is slurred, and he says he is in trouble, but he cannot tell her what is wrong. Hours later, he is found dead in his car in the parking lot of the theme park where he works. The man had a history of heart trouble. Did he suffer a heart attack, or was he killed by something or someone else?While being visited by her siblings from New York, a woman finds her 31-year-old brother dead in bed. The man suffered from epilepsy, and traces of cocaine were also found in his bedroom. Did he suffer a fatal seizure, or was his death drug-related?

A Cry for Help

While in the process of adopting a five-week-old baby, a mother takes him to work with her. While there, the baby inexplicably obtains a skull fracture while unsupervised. Since the parents cannot provide an explanation as to how the injury occurred, the hospital must investigate for abuse. The baby is taken away from the parents and placed with a foster family. The family's lawyer asks Dr. G to review the evidence. Can Dr. G's professional opinion help reunite a family?Eleven months after becoming paralyzed in a car accident, a 36-year-old woman dies in the hospital. Doctors claim the cause of death was a bacterial infection, a complication from her injuries. The woman's mother strongly believes her daughter was poisoned by her husband while in the hospital. Will Dr. G's autopsy confirm the mother's suspicions, or prove that there was no foul play involved?

A Mother's Love

On a rural Texas highway, a fire is discovered in which three bodies have been burnt beyond recognition. Dr. G finds bullets in all three bodies, and determines that they were all fatally shot before being set on fire. Working together with the Texas Rangers, she must identify the victims and help to find who killed them.A 55-year-old man is dies while on a city bus. No one saw him die, so he is sent to the morgue for an autopsy. With no medical records available, Dr. G must consider all possibilities as she looks for the cause of death.

Ashes to Ashes

An employee is found dead in a restaurant kitchen. Clues found near the body include an empty cash register, a knife, a phone ripped off the wall, and a trail of blood splotches leading to a vandalized car in the parking lot. The man was well known for starting brawls, and alcohol and drug abuse. There are many possibilities as to how the man could have died, so Dr. G must do an autopsy to find exactly who or what killed him.A man dies in the hospital after taking a dangerously high amount of acetaminophen, an over-the-counter pain medication. Before dying, the man claimed that the overdose was a suicide attempt. Normally, acetaminophen overdoses do not result in death. Dr. G works to find evidence to indicate whether this was really a suicide attempt or if the man accidentally killed himself in a scam for medical attention.

Fighting for the Truth

A healthy 53-year-old woman is found dead in bed. After performing an autopsy and taking blood and tissue samples, Dr. G cannot find the cause of death. Through conversations with the woman's husband, Dr. G finds out that the woman was suffering from symptoms of a hormonal imbalance and taking over forty dietary supplements a day. Dr. G must find which, if any, of these supplements may have caused her death.After a night of drinking, a 60-year-old man leaves a friend's house on his bicycle and is later found dead in a ditch by the side of the road. It is up to Dr. G to find out whether he fell off his bike or died some other way.

Dying to be Young

Dr. G: Medical Examiner documents cases handled by deputy chief medical examiner Dr. Jan C. Garavaglia (aka Dr. G) of Florida's District Nine Medical Examiner's Office. Each episode features two or three cases Dr. G has handled in the Orlando area, and also in Bexar County, Texas and Jacksonville, Florida where she was previously employed. Some portions of the show have been dramatized and some names have been changed to protect the dignity of individuals and their families.

The Chain of Life and Death

Seasons8

Season 1 Episodes12

Cast1

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