This Fourth of July be extra cautious with the use of consumer fireworks. The legal limit of the amount of pyrotechnic material allowed in consumer fireworks has been increased. Most of these fireworks can be purchased at temporary roadside tents and set off in your backyard or driveway. According to the American Pyrotechnics Association, the use of backyard fireworks has more than doubled since 2000. That has caused concern among some public safety groups that the rise in both popularity and firepower could prove dangerous and result in injury or property damage. (more…)

The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that the next-of-kin do not have a right to organs removed by county coroners after autopsies are completed, according to a 6-1 ruling by the Ohio Supreme Court.

The decision is a win for coroners and medical examiners in 87 of Ohio’s 88 counties who are facing a federal class-action lawsuit.In writing the decision, Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton went beyond the typical law library materials and consulted the Post Mortem Technique Handbook and The Color Atlas of the Autopsy.  In about 5 percent of autopsies, brains are removed, hung upside down in a large container of fixing solution for up to six weeks, and then dissected after they’ve hardened. Dissection of the brain can yield information about tumors, strokes or contusions that may have led to death. (more…)