Students taking a forensics class at Flathead High School took a more clinical look at the assassination of John F. Kennedy half a century ago.

With so much emotion and anecdotal information tied to Kennedy’s death, students in science teacher Lori Ortley’s class looked at the facts surrounding the president’s autopsy and briefly touched on general public sentiment of the Kennedy family — and why a combination of the two may have led to various conspiracy theories about the president’s death.

On Thursday, Ortley showed a video featuring high-profile forensic pathologist Michael Baden, who was chairman of the Forensic Pathology Panel of the House Select Committee on Assassinations. In 1979 the committee reinvestigated Kennedy’s assassination.

The video pointed out critical mistakes made during the autopsy, such as an X-ray of Kennedy’s head, which was partially melted after being held too close to a light bulb, and inaccurate measurements of bullet holes. Ortley said there was a lack of protocol and that admirals and U.S. Secret Service members were standing around as the autopsy took place.

She asked students to imagine the intense pressure the pathologist, inexperienced in forensics, let alone bullet wounds, might have felt during the rushed autopsy.

“Imagine you’re working in the ER and they bring in the president of the United States and you have to work on him. Imagine what that would feel like,” Ortley said.

“Now remember pathologists investigate diseases and natural deaths. Forensic pathologists investigate unnatural death including murder. The difference between a forensic pathologist and a regular pathologist is how they would view a body.”

Afterward, class members discussed if what they viewed ruled out conspiracy theories that medical evidence was covered up or altered. One student wondered why a tracheotomy was done when there was very visible damage to the head and exposed brain.

“Realize you just brought in the president. Do you think you’ll stand there and argue whether he’s dead?” Ortley asked. “What did you learn on cause of death and matter of death?”

“They [doctors] don’t all agree on when does life end,” students chimed in.

“They know it’s a serious gunshot wound,” Ortley said. “They are going to do absolutely everything.”  

Senior Scott Christensen, a student in a different forensics class, stopped by to talk about the unique way of studying the historical event. Christensen said Kennedy’s legacy rather than the assassination is emphasized in history classes.

“I’ve never looked at anything really from this viewpoint just forensically and scientifically. It’s very interesting to look at the assassination this way.”

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at [email protected].