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The chosen one Professor of biomedical engineering will review photos
Updated: Friday March 23, 2001 3:00 PM
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- An associate professor of biomedical engineering at Duke University was chosen Thursday to review the autopsy photos of NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt. Barry Myers was picked by special master John Upchurch, who last week helped work out a settlement between Earnhardt's widow, who wanted the photos sealed, and the Orlando Sentinel, which wanted its own medical expert to review the pictures. Also Thursday, in Tallahassee, the state House overwhelmingly passed a bill to block public access to autopsy photos. The measure would prevent members of the public and media from viewing anyone's autopsy photos unless they can convince a judge that there is good cause to see them. The bill (HB 1083) passed 91-12. It still must be heard by the Senate. If it becomes law it would be retroactive, although the Orlando Sentinel's effort to view Earnhardt's autopsy photos is being handled in mediation.
An attorney for the newspaper said he was pleased with the selection of Myers, who has written extensively on crash injuries. "The real winners are the public because it looks like we're going to get answers to our questions," said David Bralow. "We couldn't be happier." Myers, reached at the North Carolina school, was reticent about his role. "I'm pleased that the court has contacted me, and I'll do my best," he said. "I don't have any opinions beyond what I'm asked to do. My only comment is that I'll do my best to respond to the needs of the court and the mediator." Myers has no ties to either NASCAR, the Sentinel or the newspaper's parent company, Tribune Co., said Thom Rumberger, an attorney for Teresa Earnhardt. "From his credentials, he sounds pretty snazzy," Rumberger said. "He meets all the criteria." Earlier this week, Bralow expressed concern about the agreement after learning that a NASCAR physician had reviewed the photos before a circuit judge sealed them at Teresa Earnhardt's request. Upchurch was asked to mediate after the Sentinel requested that the judge reopen the photo files, which normally are public record under Florida law. Myers was chosen from a list of more than a dozen experts culled from lists of medical societies, Upchurch said. Bralow and lawyers for Teresa Earnhardt met Thursday for a second round of mediation. But after Myers was chosen as the expert, the talks ended with the Friday settlement still in place. Dr. Steve Bohannon, a NASCAR medical expert, looked at the photos three days after Earnhardt's fatal wreck at the Daytona 500 on Feb. 18. The next day, a judge temporarily sealed them from public viewing at the request of Earnhardt's widow. The Sentinel wanted its own medical expert to review the images for an investigation of NASCAR safety. Under the agreement, Myers will look at the photos and then submit a report to the newspaper and the Earnhardt family on the cause of death and an explanation of certain head injuries. The photos then will be permanently sealed as requested by Teresa Earnhardt because of privacy concerns. Sentinel executives have said repeatedly they have no intention of publishing the photos. But Teresa Earnhardt's attorneys argued that other news organizations would be able to have access to the photos if the Sentinel was granted permission. An independent student newspaper at the University of Florida, the Independent Florida Alligator, and a Web site are pursuing their own cases in court to gain access to the photos and aren't part of the agreement. Earlier this week, the president of WebsiteCity.com, Michael Uribe, complained in a letter to Volusia County Circuit Judge Joseph Will that he was being left out of the mediation talks between lawyers for the Sentinel and Earnhardts.
Bohannon, who was at the track when Earnhardt crashed and rode in the ambulance taking the popular driver to a hospital, said at a NASCAR news conference in North Carolina five days later that Earnhardt might have survived if his lap belt had not broken.
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