Focused on Forensics: Marcella Sorg
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Last year, forensic anthropologist Marcella Sorg assisted state police with an investigation in Dedham, Maine. Sorg said bones found at the scene were from the spine and foot of a woman who most likely was in her 20s. Bangor Daily News photo by Bill Trotter ©2002 Bangor Daily News, used with permission

Old bones tell stories, and Marcella Sorg has heard her share.

As a forensic anthropologist, she studies bones — their form and appearance, chemical composition and state of decay — and uses science to listen to what they have to say. The story could be about an unmarked grave, an animal killed by a predator, or perhaps an unsolved crime.

For Sorg, forensics has an important civic function. Whether studying bones, DNA, traffic accidents or autopsy reports, the focus is on the life and death outcomes of public policies.

"The reality of forensic practice is much broader than just death investigation. It is very important for students in college to understand that interface. It's part of civics. It's part of understanding the relationship between crime and public health policy," says Sorg, who investigates 30–40 cases a year in Maine and New Hampshire. She has been doing forensic investigations since the late 1970s, and occasionally consults on cases outside the region.

Sorg is the only forensic anthropologist in northern New England certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology. In recent years, as a research associate in the Margaret Chase Smith Center for Public Policy at UMaine, she has been at the forefront of issues, from drug abuse to emergency medical care. A case in point is her study of the recent spate of deaths from drug overdoses in Maine.

Between 1997–2002, annual drug-related deaths in Maine more than quadrupled, from 34 to 166. Sorg and Dr. Margaret Greenwald, Maine's chief medical examiner, reviewed information about those deaths to find out what sorts of drugs were involved, whether they were legally prescribed and what other circumstances might help to explain the increasing death rate.

"That was a forensic endeavor pivotal to policy decisions. It was at the junction between forensics and what we do about drug deaths as a state," says Sorg, who joined Greenwald last August in testifying before a U.S. Senate subcommittee that was chaired by Maine Sen. Susan Collins.

The results raised awareness of the need for prescription drug system reform. Many of the victims of drug overdoses, Sorg reported, had histories of health problems ranging from chronic pain and cardiovascular disease to mental illness, including depression. "The increase in drug deaths," she testified, "is largely a problem with drugs frequently prescribed for pain, anxiety and depression. These are often found in combination."

As a result of her study, Sorg has been called twice by federal substance abuse prevention officials to give presentations in Washington, D.C., on methadone-associated deaths. In Maine, her research was instrumental in passage of a bill to create a state prescription monitoring program (unfunded as of this writing) that could inform pharmacists and physicians about all prescriptions written for individuals. Such a system could help reduce the incidence of prescription drug abuse.

In addition, Sorg, who also is a registered nurse, is using her forensics expertise to work on another policy front: public services for victims of trauma, including rapid response to children in domestic violence cases.