Gone Without a Case: Suspicious Elder Deaths Rarely Investigated

Gone Without a Case: Suspicious Elder Deaths Rarely Investigated | Post Mortem | FRONTLINE | PBS | Official Site:

Nothing, it seemed, was unusual about Joseph Shepter’s death.A retired U.S. government scientist, Shepter spent his final two years dwelling in a nursing home in Mountain Mesa, Calif., a small town northeast of Bakersfield. A stroke had paralyzed much of his body, while dementia had eroded his ability to communicate.He died in January 2007 at age 76. On Shepter’s death certificate, Dr. Hoshang Pormir, the nursing home’s chief medical officer, explained that the cause was heart failure brought on by clogged arteries.