Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran (born March 17, 1949; ) is the former Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner for the County of Los Angeles. In 2016, he again took over this position on an interim basis until January 18, 2017.

Education and early career

Sathyavagiswaran graduated from

Loyola College, Chennai Loyola College is a government aided private Catholic higher education institution run by the Society of Jesus in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It was founded in 1925 by the France, French Jesuits, Jesuit priest, Francis Bertram, along with other ...

in 1965 and

Stanley Medical College Stanley Medical College (SMC) is a public university, public medical school, medical college located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Though the original hospital is more than 200 years old, the medical college was formally established on 2 July ...

in 1971. In 1972, he immigrated to the United States, where he interned at the Jewish Hospital of Brooklyn. From 1972 to 1973, he trained in

anatomical Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

and clinical pathology at St. Luke's Hospital of

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. From 1973 to 1977, he was the senior

resident Resident may refer to: People and functions * Resident minister, a representative of a government in a foreign country * Resident (medicine), a stage of postgraduate medical training * Resident (pharmacy), a stage of postgraduate pharmaceut ...

in medicine at Brooklyn Cumberland Hospital.

Los Angeles County Coroner

In 1977, he joined the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office. He worked his way up to the position of chief of forensic medicine. In 1990, he was passed over in favor of J. Lawrence Cogan for the position of Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner. Sathyavagiswaran was appointed Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner in 1992. The

Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (LACBOS) is the five-member Board of Supervisors, governing body of Los Angeles County, California, United States. History On April 1, 1850 the citizens of Los Angeles elected a three-man Court of Se ...

' first selection, Joshua Perper of

Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Allegheny County ( ) is a County (United States), county in Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,250,578, making it the List of counties in Pennsylvania, state's second-most populous county, after Philadelp ...

, declined the job due to Los Angeles' high housing costs. The Board's second choice, Yong-Myun Rho of

Queens, New York Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

, thrice failed the state medical exam. Sathyavagiswaran was then selected over Cogan after the Board of Supervisors received a letter signed by several deputy medical examiners requesting the County to consider the in-house candidates rather than outsiders. He was the medical examiner during the

O. J. Simpson murder case ''The People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson'' was a Criminal procedure, criminal trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court, in which former National Football League, NFL player and actor O. J. Simpson was tried and acquitt ...

and testified during the criminal and civil trials. Sathyavagiswaran also testified in the trials of Dean Carter and

Phil Spector Harvey Phillip Spector (December 26, 1939 – January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter who is best known for pioneering recording practices in the 1960s, followed by his trials and conviction for murder in the 2000s. S ...

, as well as in the wrongful death suit brought against the

Los Angeles Police Department The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...

by the family of Emil Mătăsăreanu. Sathyavagiswaran supervised the autopsy on the body of

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

on June 26, 2009. On August 21, 2012, Sathyavagiswaran amended

Natalie Wood Natalie Wood (née Zacharenko; July 20, 1938 – November 29, 1981) was an American actress. She began acting at age four and co-starred at age eight in ''Miracle on 34th Street'' (1947). As a teenager, she was nominated for an Academy Award f ...

's death certificate and changed the cause of death from accidental drowning to "drowning and other undetermined factors". Following the unexpected resignation of Sathyavagiswaran′s successor Mark Fajardo in March 2016, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to appoint Sathyavagiswaran as interim coroner even though he retired three years earlier.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sathyavagiswaran, Lakshmanan Indian emigrants to the United States Columbia University people American coroners Health professionals from Los Angeles American Hindus Living people American health professionals of Indian descent Loyola College, Chennai alumni 1949 births