Dead Center: Behind the Scenes at the World's Largest Medical Examiner's Office

Shiya Ribowsky · Tom Shachtman

Oct 2009 · Harper Collins

About this ebook

This insider’s account of the NYC medical examiner’s office takes readers from an average day in the autopsy room to the tragic aftermath of 9/11.

For fifteen years, Shiya Ribowsky worked as a medicolegal investigator in New York City’s medical examiner’s office—the largest, most sophisticated organization of its kind in the world. Ribowsky led the investigations of more than eight thousand individual deaths, becoming a key figure in some of New York’s most bizarre death cases. He also took charge of the largest forensic investigation ever attempted: identifying the dead in the aftermath of September 11th.

Now Ribowsky pulls back the curtain on the New York City’s medical examiner’s office, giving a never-before-seen glimpse into death and the city. From vermin-infested Bowery flophouses to posh Upper East Side apartments of the city’s dead, Ribowsky explores the skeletons that hang in the Big Apple’s closets. Combing through the autopsy room, he also exposes the grim secrets that only a scalpel can reveal, and explains how forensic investigation not only solve crimes—but also saves lives.

Ratings and reviews

A heartbreak and introspective look and account of 9/11 efforts to identify the remains of those who perished in this incomparable tragedy.

About the author

Shiya Ribowsky is the former director of special projects at the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office. He is one of America’s most experienced medicolegal investigators. Also the forensics consultant to Law & Order, he lives in Long Island, New York. Tom Shachtman is the author of thirty books, including Decade of Shocks, 1963-1974; Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold; and Rumspringa: To Be or Not to Be Amish. He lives in Connecticut.