Front & Center: Medical examiner pursued career in forensic pathology by happenstance
(World News USA)

Dr. Sally Aiken sees dead people. No, not the macabre `Sixth Sense` variety. As Spokane County medical examiner, Aiken performs about 300 autopsies a year on bodies from Spokane and 14 surrounding counties. A second forensic pathologist performs a similar number. Besides determining the manner of death, Aiken and her staff investigate death scenes, provide legal testimony, meet with relatives of the deceased and prepare for mass casualties. Aiken also is serving a one-year term as president of the National Association of Medical Examiners. And later this spring, she and Dr. John Howard will oversee her department´s transition from cramped basement quarters on the North Side to a new, $12...