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http://www.northjersey.com/cgi-bin/page.pl?id=5892005

N.J. coroner's latest mistake may be his worst
JOHN CURRAN

PLEASANTVILLE - When ex-Beatle John Lennon was shot to death in 1980, Dr. Elliot Gross performed the autopsy.

When 15-year-old Martha Moxley was found dead under a Greenwich, Conn., tree in 1975, Gross was the coroner who handled the body.

And when a New York subway graffiti artist named Michael Stewart died in police custody, Gross determined he died of cardiac arrest; in fact, Stewart died of injuries suffered while in custody.

Gross, 68, is no stranger to controversy. In a 40-year career that included more than 7,000 autopsies, his work in high-profile cases has frequently come under attack.

His latest error may be his biggest.

Gross determined that Ellen Andros, 31, found dead in her home last year, had been suffocated, and prosecutors charged her police officer husband with murder. James Andros III lost his job as an Atlantic City police officer, and his in-laws got custody of his two young daughters.

On Wednesday, Andros, 34, was cleared after another forensic pathologist determined that Ellen Andros actually died of coronary heart failure.

"He was flat-out wrong," said John Bjorklund, Andros' lawyer.

Gross has yet to talk publicly about the case. He did not return telephone calls Thursday.

"I don't know if I'm always involved in controversy or if it follows me," he said in an interview last year.

The son of a pediatrician, Gross grew up in Manhattan and attended medical school, where an elective course steered him toward pathology.

After working in the New York City Medical Examiner's Office, he served as chief medical examiner for the state of Connecticut from 1970 to 1979 and then in the same capacity for New York City until 1987, when he was fired.

After that, he worked for Lake County, Ind., before settling in southern New Jersey in 1995 as the coroner for Cape May and Cumberland counties.

But controversy has followed him:

In the 1983 Stewart case, he attributed the 25-year-old Brooklyn man's death to cardiac arrest, ruling out physical injury as a cause. An investigation later revealed transit police had used excessive force. Three were indicted but never convicted.

In New Jersey, Gross' work came into question in the case of Tracy Thomas, whose death in a 1997 traffic accident has never been explained. Gross said she died of blunt-force trauma when her car skidded off a snowy road and into a utility pole.

But a longtime rival, Dr. Michael Baden, was hired by the Ford Motor Co. after her husband blamed an exploding air bag for her death and sued the company. Baden said Mrs. Thomas was strangled, although no one has ever been charged in her death.

In the Andros case, Gross - called to the scene because Atlantic County Medical Examiner Hydow Park was unavailable - ruled on the spot that she had been suffocated, Andros' attorneys said. In a report Monday, a forensic pathologist hired by the state concluded Ellen Andros died naturally, as the result of bleeding in the coronary artery caused by a rare condition.

Confronted with the diagnosis, Gross immediately admitted his mistake and agreed to amend the death certificate, said to Atlantic County Prosecutor Jeffrey Blitz.

"Suffocation is a very difficult diagnosis to make, and in the absence of confessions and observations, it's not a diagnosis that can be made grossly, microscopically, chemically or in any other way," said Dr. Cyril Wecht, a well-known forensic pathologist familiar with Gross and his work.

"I don't know how he arrived at it in the first place, and I'm surprised he backed off it so quickly," said Wecht, who has known Gross for years.

It wasn't clear Thursday whether Gross would face official sanction. Andros plans a civil suit against those he believes are responsible for wrongfully charging him.

But first, the 34-year-old patrolman plans to seek custody of his 7- and 5-year-old daughters. His late wife's parents intend to fight him, said their lawyer, Marissa Costello.

Asked if they still believe Andros did it, she said: "That's what they've been told, and to be untold a thing like that, after 1½ years, you can't just turn that off. It's a horrible situation all the way around."

Andros' supporters feel the same.

"They tore out this guy's heart," said neighbor John Goodman, 58. "He couldn't grieve for his wife, he was so worried about getting convicted, getting his children back, clearing his name. He was in a lot of emotional pain."

Medical examiner to fight incompetence charge

Wednesday, July 30, 2003

BY JOHN CURRAN
Associated Press

A mistake that led to a wrongful murder charge against a police officer may end up costing medical examiner Elliot Gross his career.

Gross was granted an unpaid leave of absence from his $142,500-a-year job as coroner for Cape May and Cumberland counties yesterday after state officials said he failed to prove his competence in remedial tests.

Gross, 69, a former chief medical examiner for New York City, intends to fight the sanctions.

"He was quite shocked, quite devastated," said Cape May County Administrator Stephen O'Connor.

The tests had been ordered by the state Medical Examiner in February in response to Gross' handling of the 2001 death of Ellen Andros. The 31-year-old was found dead in her Pleasantville home by her husband, Atlantic City Police Officer James Andros III.

Gross, who performed the autopsy, concluded she died of asphyxiation after being suffocated. Andros then was charged with murder and suspended from his job.

But defense experts and later a pathologist hired by the state found that Mrs. Andros died of spontaneous coronary artery dissection, a rare ailment.

Gross admitted his mistake last December. The charge against Andros was dropped and he was reinstated to his job. Andros has since filed a civil suit against Gross, Atlantic County Prosecutor Jeffrey Blitz and others involved in his case.

Gross, meanwhile, was fired as an assistant medical examiner for Atlantic County and censured by the state, which said his work on the Andros case constituted professional incompetence.

As part of the censure, he was banned from performing unsupervised autopsies and ordered to perform 20 autopsies under the supervision of a state-designated forensic pathologist, as well as observing 20 others.

He did the work but it didn't measure up, acting State Medical Examiner John Krolikowski told Gross in a letter Friday.

Gross intends to fight the state, which he believes treated him unfairly, according to attorney Russell Lichtenstein.

"We are absolutely committed to fighting this in whatever court or agency may have jurisdiction," Lichtenstein said. "We are going to pursue all avenues of relief available to Dr. Gross, who does not believe he was treated fairly from the commencement of this process."

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Parents say troubled coroner bungled autopsy on daughter

Pathologist finds signs of homicide in death of Cape May woman

Tuesday, August 05, 2003

BY JOHN CURRAN
Associated Press

After Beth Ann Miller died mysteriously, medical examiner Elliot Gross concluded that a heart condition killed her.

But when her parents saw bruises on the head of their 31-year-old daughter later, they suspected murder.

Now, Gross' fall from grace has reopened old wounds for Miller's parents, who believe the coroner botched her autopsy and want the case reopened.

"I feel as though they've proven what we've been telling them all along," said Miller's mother, Sandy Miller, 60, of Blandon, Pa. "We said right away that we felt he made a big mistake with our daughter's autopsy Just knowing that he made these mistakes, they should reopen our daughter's death."

Gross, 69, who had a rocky eight-year tenure as New York City's chief medical examiner before being fired in 1987, took an unpaid leave of absence from his job as Cape May County medical examiner last week, after failing to prove his competence in state-ordered remedial testing.

The tests were ordered in response to Gross' mistake in the 2001 autopsy of Ellen Andros of Pleasantville. Gross concluded she was suffocated, leading prosecutors to charge an Atlantic City police officer with murder.

Officer James Andros III was eventually exonerated, but the error and Gross' subsequent failure to pass the remedial tests caught the attention of the Millers.

At 6:46 a.m. on May 28, 2000, paramedics dispatched to a Stone Harbor condominium found Miller unconscious in bed. She died later at a hospital.

Gross attributed her death to cardiac arrest brought on by mitral valve prolapse, a heart abnormality with which she had been diagnosed.

He noted the bruises in his autopsy report but said they weren't fatal injuries. There was no reason to believe she was killed, according to Gross.

Miller's parents believed otherwise.

They consulted medical experts, lobbied Cape May County officials for a review by an independent pathologist and held a rally on the steps of the county courthouse, showing graphic autopsy photographs of their daughter.

A forensic pathologist retained by the family, Neil Hoffman, of Reading, Pa., reviewed Gross' autopsy report, photographs of the body, Miller's medical records and investigative reports on her death.

Hoffman, who never examined the body, concluded that Miller suffered two or three blows to the face before dying and that the heart problem was probably not the cause of death.

"In the meantime, it is my recommendation that the investigation of this case be reopened in that the possibility that it is a homicide is relatively high," Hoffman told the Millers in a June 2001 letter.

The Millers say their daughter's case cries out for a second look.

"I've begged them to hire an independent medical examiner to review our daughter's case," said Sandy Miller. "Everyone tells us we should hire (noted pathologist) Michael Baden, but we can't afford it. But we feel this was mishandled from day one."

Acting Cape May County Prosecutor J. David Meyer said he had no plans to reopen the Miller case.

"I have yet to see any basis to have those findings independently reviewed," he said.

Meyer said the Millers had refused to provide Hoffman's written report on the death or give Hoffman permission to release it to Cape May County authorities.

Doing so would be a prerequisite to considering reopening the case, Meyer said.

"There was facial bruising, but there were alternative explanations. She went through some resuscitation efforts and some of that can get physically rough. It's not uncommon for there to be bruising," Meyer said.

Hoffman declined comment on the case yesterday.

Gross stands by his conclusions, attorney Russell Lichtenstein said.

"Dr. Gross did a comprehensive investigation into Miss Miller's death, which included an investigation that discovered there was some family history of a very similar heart condition," Lichtenstein said.
___________

Parents want case of woman's death reopened

Tuesday, August 5, 2003
ASSOCIATED PRESS

CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE - After Beth Ann Miller died mysteriously, medical examiner Dr. Elliot Gross concluded that a heart condition killed her.

But when her parents saw bruises on the head of their 31-year-old daughter later, they suspected murder.

Now, Gross' fall from grace has reopened old wounds for Miller's parents, who believe the coroner botched her autopsy and want the case reopened.

"I feel as though they've proven what we've been telling them all along," said Miller's mother, Sandy Miller, 60, of Blandon, Pa.

"We said right away that we felt he made a big mistake with our daughter's autopsy. Just knowing that he made these mistakes, they should reopen our daughter's death."

Gross, 69, who had a rocky eight-year tenure as New York City's chief medical examiner before being fired in 1987, took an unpaid leave of absence from his job as Cape May County medical examiner last week, after failing to prove his competence in state-ordered remedial testing.

The tests were ordered in response to Gross' mistake in the 2001 autopsy of Ellen Andros of Pleasantville. Gross concluded she was suffocated, leading prosecutors to charge an Atlantic City police officer with murder.

Officer James Andros III was eventually exonerated, but the error and Gross' subsequent failure to pass the remedial tests caught the attention of the Millers.

At 6:46 a.m. on May 28, 2000, paramedics dispatched to a Stone Harbor condominium found Miller unconscious in bed. She died later at a hospital.

Gross attributed her death to cardiac arrest brought on by mitral valve prolapse, a heart abnormality with which she had been diagnosed.

He noted the bruises in his autopsy report but said they weren't fatal injuries. There was no reason to believe she was killed, according to Gross.

Miller's parents believed otherwise.

They consulted medical experts, lobbied Cape May County officials for a review by an independent pathologist, and held a rally on the steps of the county courthouse, showing graphic autopsy photographs of their daughter.

A forensic pathologist retained by the family, Dr. Neil Hoffman of Reading, Pa., reviewed Gross' autopsy report, photographs of the body, Miller's medical records, and investigative reports on her death.

Hoffman, who never examined the body, concluded that Miller suffered two or three blows to the face before dying and that the heart problem was probably not the cause of death.

"In the meantime, it is my recommendation that the investigation of this case be reopened in that the possibility that it is a homicide is relatively high," Hoffman told the Millers in a June 2001 letter.

The Millers say their daughter's case cries out for a second look.

"I've begged them to hire an independent medical examiner to review our daughter's case," said Sandy Miller.

"Everyone tells us we should hire [noted pathologist] Michael Baden, but we can't afford it. But we feel this was mishandled from Day One."

Acting Cape May County Prosecutor J. David Meyer said he has no plans to reopen the Miller case.

"I have yet to see any basis to have those findings independently reviewed," he said.

Meyer said the Millers had refused to provide Hoffman's written report on the death or give Hoffman permission to release it to Cape May County authorities.

Doing so would be a prerequisite to considering reopening the case, Meyer said.

"There was facial bruising, but there were alternative explanations. She went through some resuscitation efforts and some of that can get physically rough. It's not uncommon for there to be bruising," Meyer said.

Hoffman declined to comment on the case Monday.