Valentino Mazzia
Valentino D. B. Mazzia (February 17, 1922 – March 10, 1999) was an American physician who served as chairman of the department of
New York University School of Medicine
and was a pioneer in the forensic analysis of deaths occurring during surgical procedures. He testified in many criminal cases about the use and presence of anesthesia products in cases of death.
Mazzia was born on February 17, 1922, in
Cornell University Medical School in the 1950s as chaired the anesthesiology department at New York University starting in the 1960s.[1]
Starting in 1961, he worked at the
New York City Medical Examiner's Office under Drs. Michael Baden and Milton Helpern. Baden credited Mazzia with going on to "create the specialty of forensic anesthesiology" describing how Mazzia would go "to the scene, which was the operating room, to see if something went wrong", closing off the room for investigation and basing his judgments on his findings on the spot. He left the medical examiner's office in the early 1970s. He then spent two years as director of anesthesiology at Los Angeles County-Martin Luther King Jr. General Hospital and practiced medicine in California and Nevada.[1]
Adding legal education to his medical training, Mazzia earned a degree in law from
succinylcholine chloride to kill his victims.[2]
A resident of
Mount Sinai Hospital. Dr. Baden indicated that the cirrhosis resulted from a case of Hepatitis C that he had contracted while working as an anesthesiologist. He was survived by his wife, as well as three children from a previous marriage.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d Severo, Richard. "Valentino Mazzia, 77, Student Of Deaths Under Anesthesia", The New York Times, March 21, 1999. Accessed October 21, 2009.
- St. Petersburg Times, April 30, 1967. Accessed October 21, 2009.