A Yunlin County family was outraged yesterday after a coroner declared a family member had died of "lung disease" when in fact he had been murdered, suffering a gunshot to the face.
The Yunlin District Prosecutors' Office admitted yesterday it had made a mistake when diagnosing the cause of death, after the victim's family found a gunshot wound on the man's face.
Yunlin resident Chen Teh-shan (陳得山) died suddenly at his home on Feb. 10.
Yunlin Prosecutors' Office spokesman Chiang Teh-lung (蔣得龍) told reporters yesterday they now suspected a murder had been committed and prosecutors were looking for suspects.
Chen's wife complained to local reporters yesterday that Cheng Kuan-po (鄭官寶), a coroner from the Yunlin Prosecutors' Office, announced that her husband had died from lung disease after conducting a postmortem examination.
Entrance wound
However, Chen's wife said family members had noticed a bullet entrance wound through her husband's nostril while cleaning the body.
"My son later found a shell casing in the living room," she added.
She said Cheng carried out a second postmortem examination after the family complained about the matter, and found that Chen had been shot at close range and that a bullet entered his skull through his nostril, eventually becoming lodged in his shoulder blade.
Chen's wife was angered by the sloppy postmortem examination.
She said her husband was alone watching TV in the living room before the incident.
"I found my husband lying on the floor with blood spurting from his nose and mouth when I returned home," she added.
She said the living room's windows were open.
Autopsy refused
Cheng told reporters yesterday that because Chen's family hoped the deceased could be buried with his body complete, they refused to let medical experts conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death.
He said the bloodstains on the deceased's face resulted in his failure to see the entrance wound in his nostril, causing him to make an incorrect diagnosis.
Cheng admitted the error and apologized to the victim's family.
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