Michael Tsokos in an interview: The best-known in forensic medicine

Michael Tsokos in an interview: The best-known in forensic medicine

The renowned forensic doctor, Michael Tsokos, who is known for his best-selling books, documentaries and his leadership of forensic medicine at the Berlin Charité, recently revealed his reasons for ending his work at the Charité. His decision reflects criticism of the Charité's increasingly political orientation, which, in his opinion, does not correspond to his understanding of independent university medicine. Tsokos particularly criticizes the loss of teaching time and the neglect of student training in forensic medicine.

According to Tsokos, the situation in other countries such as Hungary, where more intensive lecturer-student interactions take place in small groups, illustrates the lack of such an intensive relationship at the Charité. The anonymity and fiscal control there make practical and intensive student training difficult. In addition, Tsokos emphasizes the importance of virtual autopsy using computer tomography as a standard procedure, which has proven to be extremely helpful in many cases.

In the course of the interview, Tsokos also comments on explosive topics such as the ambiguity in assessing causes of death during the corona pandemic. He criticizes the fact that many who were “corona positive” at the time of death but died of other causes were still counted as corona deaths. With regard to his many years of work in forensic medicine, Tsokos speaks of over 50,000 autopsies himself and emphasizes the importance of a correct postmortem examination to avoid overlooked homicides and other misdiagnoses.

Regarding some high-profile deaths, such as those of Whitney Houston and Kurt Cobain, Tsokos displays a skeptical attitude towards the official causes of death. He expresses the suspicion that Whitney Houston was drowned and that Kurt Cobain would not have been able to shoot himself due to high heroin levels. The police's lack of crime scene work and the failure to secure evidence in these cases strengthen Tsokos' criticism of inadequate investigations and cautious gender-specific stereotypes of death-day investigators.

Tsokos' commitment as a forensic doctor and author underlines his desire to bring forensic medicine out of its shadowy existence and to educate the public about the work in this field. His next book, entitled “With Cold Calculation,” will be a continuation of his successful series about a Berlin forensic doctor, which will continue to captivate readers.