Maryland's chief medical examiner, Dr. David Fowler, confirmed Saturday that the cause of Ivins' death was found to be an overdose of acetaminophen, the active drug in Tylenol; and that it was ruled a suicide based on information from police and doctors, according to the AP.

Kimberly Thomas, a forensic examiner with the Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, would not comment Saturday on results from Ivins' autopsy or confirm Dr. Fowler's statement. Frederick News-Post 8/3/8

Somebody, at least, believes an autopsy took place.

Duley said she called Ivins' two lawyers and the city police, who went to Ivins' workplace and had him committed to Frederick Memorial Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.

She said Ivins was transferred the next day to a high-security, psychiatric treatment center and placed on "homicidal and suicide watch."

Duley said Ivins' scheduled release from the hospital on the day of the hearing prompted her to seek the protective order.

Duley said that on July 11, Ivins left her two ranting voice messages, blaming her for his commitment.

On July 12, he left another "rather scary" voice message from a hospital in which "he very calmly thanked me for ruining his life and opening _ allowing the FBI to now be able to prosecute him for the murders, and that it was all my fault and it's going to be my fault that they can now get him."

Duley said she gave the answering-machine tapes to the FBI. Associated Press, 8/3/8

Somebody believes that he was put in the hospital as a danger to himself and others by police. That's a hold, not a voluntary commitment. And his phone calls don't make it sound like voluntary anything, unless you mean that he agreed to go quietly.

I think the proper focus here is those who capitalized on the attacks, whether or not that includes Dr. Ivin. People who are questioning the death itself are questioning the county medical examiner's office and local police. Why are they regarded as suspicious? Are they part of the Iraq War build-up? Do they work for the FBI? Are they in league with the Dark Lord? Is there a reason that a call to 911 with Fire responding to an unconscious male, two days in the hospital being treated, and subsequent liver failure and death is the focus of your suspicion? You suspect the Fire Department, the Police, the hospital, and the Medical Examiner's office?

Fire would have called PD the minute they had any reason to suspect (in this case) suicide. At least I think so. California has different protocols than Maryland probably, but here, if EMS were called for an unconscious male and told he had ingested large quantities of meds, they'd have called PD, immediately. It's required.

Putting Brian Ross, and many others on the hot seat is a must. Putting the medical examiner on the hot seat seems a little weird. The guy died in a hospital. Kinda tough to create that big a conspiracy in that short a time. When do you suggest it happened? Secret Freemason symbolism during the paramedic's ringdown? A midnight swap of all the hospital personnel for Manchurian Candidates at 2:00 AM?

What was not required was for her to to initiate a restraining order or for it to be handled in the way it was. What that filing accomplished was not only an egregious violation of patient privacy....

I am sorry, but this is a load of crap. A doctor does not give up their ability to have the police or courts intervene against a patient that that has committed violence, or threatened to commit violence against a doctor. The idea that a patient has some kind of privacy right in this situation is silly.

To suggest that patient confidentiality extends to these circumstances is an invitation for patients to assault their doctors and as a psychologist yourself you should think through the consequences of what you are proposing.

In what way does Duley's testimony contrast with the FBI' s behavior?

If Duley's testimony is true, the fact that the FBI would let man, who was about to be indicted for using weapons of mass destruction to attack this country, walk out of a mental institution after saying--

"That they weren't going to take him out without a fight."

--is just beyond credibility.

This is not behavior that can be explained by rank incompetence. At best they wanted him to kill himself and were keeping there fingers crossed he didn't take that many with him. At worst...

Why were White House aides given cipro weeks before the anthrax attacks, and why "on the night of the Sept. 11 attacks, [did] the White House Medical Office dispense[] Cipro to staff accompanying Vice President Dick Cheney as he was secreted off to the safety of Camp David"? [Washington Post, 10/23/2001];

Somebody did alot of criminal things, fine, lets have another 9/11 commission or not have one.

It's all water under the bridge, and we sure as hell don't want anyone to be taken seriously here.

Nobody is going to listen to an ultra-liberal anyway because we all know that FISA bill was merely Obama moving to the right.

Tarasoff does not "hold" in Texas. There may be other states who exempt themselves from Tarasoff as well, but Texas holds no duty to warn, duty to protect. It's at the discretion of the treating personnel. Treating personnel to include an array of non-PhD/MD/MSW/LCSW types.

Little Brother... All this time I was laboring under the theory that Shooter was Dick Cheney; maybe the name fooled me. Your theory about how media stars morph into trolls to, uh, "salvage" their trampled credibility certainly carries some weight, considering a memorable evening on this thread wherein a pompous, fact-free gasbag who sounded a lot like Tom Friedman sauntered in to zealously defend... Tom Friedman. BTW... My own "Little Brother" and I are the same age until Tuesday, a circumstance for which I blame the Pope.

Thanks to Jim White, lcr, Mona, Jestalpero, and others for doing yoemen's work digging into this.

Glenn owes y'all a dinner, or at least drinks.