Siegel, Henry

In 1976, Dr. Mario E. Jascalevich wad indicted for five murders. Two of Jascalevich's colleagues at Riverdell Hospital in Oradell, N.J. - Dr. Stanley Harris, a surgeon, and Dr. Allan Lans, an osteopathic physician - suspected him of murdering their patients with curare. In January 1976 a series of articles about a "Doctor X" suspected of murdering patients at Riverdell Hospital appeared in the New York Times, and the Bergen County Prosecutor's office reopened its case. The major question addressed by the defense was that of the long-term stability of curare under the conditions to which the bodies were subjected between 1966 and 1976. It was contended that the RIA was not specific enough and could only rise suspicions that something is there but it might not be there. Jascalevich was acquitted of all murder charges in 1978.

Henry Siegel was a physician and pathologist and medical examiner for Westchester County, N.Y.

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