Pitt Professor Arrested for Poisoning Wife

[I_Like_Spam]

Originally Posted by jay5835

Do parents have legal standing to sue in a case like this, i.e., one in which the deceased daughter was married?

Even if they don't, the estate might be able to sue- and if the parents are her closest living relatives they would still be able to collect.

Of course that all depends on whether the defendant is convicted in the upcoming trial. If he's found innocent, he would have priority over her parents and could presumably sue Pitt.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by jay5835

Do parents have legal standing to sue in a case like this, i.e., one in which the deceased daughter was married?

They can sue on behalf of their grandchild if they are her legal guardians.

Originally Posted by I_Like_Spam

Even if they don't, the estate might be able to sue- and if the parents are her closest living relatives they would still be able to collect.

The deceased's estate suing is another route.

It's unlikely the parents would be suing on their own behalf.

This is the daughter's lawsuit. They'd be fools to approach it any other way.

Originally Posted by I_Like_Spam

Of course that all depends on whether the defendant is convicted in the upcoming trial. If he's found innocent, he would have priority over her parents and could presumably sue Pitt.

I won't even entertain that possibility since it's so unlikely.

[ebyrnes]

Hopes, I am so sorry to hear this; 38 is way too young to die.

Originally Posted by Hopes

We did that when my dad died at home. His doctor signed off on his cause of death.

ETA: My sister was 38.

[EveKendall]

Originally Posted by greg42

The thing I've found myself wondering after reading the police report is why in fact it was so easy to request cyanide overnight when it was unrelated to his work. Seems like that might need a little bit more procedural oversight.

As a researcher you can request all kinds of things, especially if you were regularly ordering from a medical supply company. It is not entirely out of the realm of belief that a neuroscientist might order cyanide for experiments on reaction of brain tissue or something. If you give you project coordinator or admin person your P-card to order research supplies they are not going to start asking you questions. Of course it is more common that you would charge things to a grant but it is possible you could ant to do some supplemental work that you didn't initially work into the grant budget--this is one of the reasons (in addition to conference travel) that you get a P-card.
I would be surprised if there were liability issues here.

[Moby Hick]

Anybody who can figure out how to deal with Pitt purchasing should be able to plan a less obvious murder.

[greg42]

Actually, it might have been missed except for all these circumstances coming together to help them find it:

UPMC Presbyterian found clues in cyanide poisoning puzzle - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

[EveKendall]

Originally Posted by greg42

Actually, it might have been missed except for all these circumstances coming together to help them find it:

UPMC Presbyterian found clues in cyanide poisoning puzzle - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The most suspicious element is that he wanted her to go to Shadyside. He would have known full well that Presby is a Level 1 trauma center.
And many kudos to the nurse who drew Autumn's blood and immediately recognized that its color was indicative of something serious. That would havebeen an easy miss.

[greg42]

Another article, this one with more details on the procurement process for such things. Pretty much we've already been filled in on this by others here but anyway: Pitt researcher Robert J. Ferrante exploited loopholes to buy cyanide - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Their use of "loopholes" to describe this may seem like too strong a word for those who deal with this all the time. I mean, I thought it sounded kind of easy, but what we forget is there are so many other chemicals, probably ones ordered more often, that are also hazardous and poisonous.