Demand for Autopsy Is Dropped

The coroner’s office on Thursday agreed not to perform an autopsy on a Jewish man whose children, citing religious objections, had obtained a last-minute court order to prevent the procedure.

Paul Reznek, an 83-year-old retired pharmacist, died Feb. 14 from injuries he suffered in December when he was mugged in downtown Los Angeles while on his way home.

Deputy County Counsel Richard Townsend said prosecutors with the district attorney’s office reviewed the case Thursday morning at the request of the coroner and decided that an autopsy, while preferable, was not absolutely necessary.

There have been no arrests in the case.

Townsend said authorities initially opposed the family’s request to forgo the autopsy because they were “not prepared to gamble and throw away a felony case” by not completing the investigation. Medical examiners researched their files and could not find any homicide case that had been prosecuted without an autopsy report, he said.

Reznek’s children argued that the autopsy was unnecessary because doctors had clearly established a tie between Reznek’s death and the Dec. 12 attack that left him with a broken hip. He had been hospitalized until his death.

Reznek was a pharmacist for 50 years in Maryland, a well-known leader of professional organizations and civic groups, his children said. He moved to Los Angeles about three years ago to live with his daughter, Dorothy Reznek.

Autopsies violate Jewish funeral customs because they desecrate the body, said Donald Reznek, one of the victim’s three children. The lengthy dispute with the coroner’s office also prevented the family from burying Reznek within 24 hours, in accordance with Jewish law.

The dispute has distressed family members. “This has been insanity,” Donald Reznek said.

“We should have been able to take our father home,” Dorothy Reznek said sadly.

Shortly before the autopsy was to begin at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, the family obtained a temporary restraining order halting the procedure. As a formality on Thursday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John Zembrowski signed a court order compelling the coroner’s office to release the body to the family as soon as possible.

Although the coroner’s office agreed not to perform the autopsy, Townsend stated that the office does not relinquish its right to perform autopsies to investigate deaths.

People can sign waivers objecting to autopsies on religious grounds, but the coroner can overrule those objections, Townsend said.

After a brief court hearing, Dorothy Reznek criticized the coroner’s office for not allowing family members to remain with the body 24 hours a day. By custom, at least one relative, known as a shomer, stays with the deceased until burial.

Family members were allowed to stay with the body only during business hours, she said. “This also has been a major source of pain for us,” she said. “You can hear the pain in my voice.”