PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

16-Dec-2014

Contact: David Orenstein david_orenstein@brown.edu 401-863-1862 Brown University @brownuniversity

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- To advance public understanding, a new website produced by nine students at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University translates into everyday language the medical jargon in more than 60 pages of evidence considered by the grand jury that declined to indict former Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown.

Rian Yalamanchili, a leader of "The Ferguson Decoded Project," said the team became inspired to demystify the terminology in Michael Brown's autopsy and Wilson's medical examination after seeing the raw evidence laid out in an NPR blog post Nov. 25, 2014.

"We felt like this was a place where we could use what we've learned so far to assist society in this very important debate across the nation," Yalamanchili said. "A lot of the terminology used in the documents is very complex. It felt rather unjust that even though this was made publicly accessible, it was still clouded in all this jargon and terminology."

The team worked through Thanksgiving and the first two weekends of December to produce the site, including an internal peer-review and advising by Brown University faculty members with knowledge of medical forensics, human pathology, and structural disparities in healthcare.

Two examples

Original (from Wilson's physical exam): "Right mid mandible and mid maxillary region with mild palpable pain; no swelling, deformity or crepitus, mild ecchymosis developing to area, no palpable pain to bilateral TMJ and full ROM to TMJ."

Translation: "Right jaw: Mild pain on the right side of the jaw, specifically around the middle and upper areas. No swelling, abnormality, or crackling/popping noises of the jaw bones. Mild bruising. No pain at the jaw joint. Fully able to move jaw."

Read the original:

Med students' site translates Ferguson evidence medical jargon