Polite Dissent

To me, reading the autopsy scene in 52 #3 raised more questions than it answered (strictly speaking, it may not be an autopsy scene, but the “the scene with John Irons examining the dead body on the table” seemed a little too wordy.) Some of these points have already been discussed over at Focused Totality and 52 Pickup, but here’s my 2¢ worth from the medical perspective.

I’m not saying these are mistakes, just unanswered questions (and they may well be mistakes, but I’m willing to give the writers the benefit of the doubt at this point.)

• Why is the autopsy taking place at STAR labs? Surely there are more appropriate places in Metropolis to perform an autopsy — and why wasn’t the body autopsied in Gotham City, since that’s it was discovered.
• Is there nobody in Gotham who could identify the body as Luthor’s? Surely there was someone in Metropolis more appropriate than John Irons. (Mercy, perhaps. Or possibly Pete Ross — you know — his Vice President?).
• On a figure as important as Luthor, why did it take over 4 days to perform an autopsy? I’m assuming the autopsy has not already been performed on the w3/d5 day scene as there is no Y incision on the body. Or if the autopsy has already been done, why did they not notice the contacts then?
• Why is John Irons involved in examining the body? He’s an engineer, not a medical examiner or even a doctor. Sure, he was called in to “identify the body”, but this is going a little too far. Mark pointed out that Henry did spend time as a hospital administrator, but trust me, that’s no guarantee that he knows his way around live patients, let alone a dead one.
• Why can Lex Luthor (the live one) and the press just stroll into STAR labs, let alone take photos of the body for publication?