To celebrate the 45th anniversary of the National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME), the 2011 Annual Meeting was held August 6 through August 13 with a special Alaska cruise.

Among the participants were Dr. M. Fredric Rieders who gave two presentations:

1) "Ethics in Forensic Science: The Good, The Bad and The Ethical”

2) “When Your Number is Up: Understanding Factors that Bias Quantitative Results in Post-Mortem Forensic Toxicology Reports”

The first presentation briefly compared codes of ethics between SOFT and NAME and identified ethics reinforcing requirements in the NAME Toxicology Lab and ABFT Lab inspection and accreditation process. Case examples were used to illustrate how forensic toxicology reports can either mislead or inform the user of forensic toxicology lab services.

The second presentation highlighted key information for the forensic pathologist to incorporate into their evaluation of toxicological findings in respect to cause and manner of death determination.

Both presentations were well received with the audience getting a better understanding of factors that bias quantitative results in post-mortem forensic tox reports and ethics in forensic science.