Pathologist

A pathologist is a specialised doctor who will perform autopsies on the decease, to determine the cause of death and approximately the time of death. They are responsible for offering their expert advice to the appropriate agencies, such as the police, attorneys and prosecutors. They are expected to break down the medical examination to ensure that it is understandable to all who are involved within the court system, such as the jury. Typically a pathologist will be involved with more than once investigation at any one time; therefore they have the reasonability of organising their department to ensure that no evidence on the body is overlooked, and everything is done correctly.

Referring to the Paul Morin case the first pathologist Dr. John Hillsdon-Smith conducted an autopsy on Christine Jessop's body. The pathologist over looked different aspects of the body such as what condition the bones were in, what bones were not present on Christine Jessop's body. (As several bones were found at the crime scene, which belonged to Christine Jessop). Therefore it can be stated that he did not adequately fulfill his roles and rehabilitates. as when the case when to court for the second time, a second pathologist went over the documents describing the autopsy that was performed and what was found. he concluded that vital pieces of information were missing from the reports, therefore stated that it was not carried out a satisfactorily autopsy. 

The roles and responsibilities of the pathologist typically stay the same, as their primary role is to determine the death of the individual. The method they use to carry out their autopsy will differ depending upon the expected cause of death. For example there may be a clear gunshot wound, which will simply indicate the gun shot was the cause of death. However there may be no apparent therefore toxicology reports will be able to distinguish if the cause of death was due to chemical substances they have consumed.