…natural causes, and then which they attribute to supernatural causes. As a physician and chief medical examiner in Ghana, Dr. K. A. Boateng often finds himself at odds with people like Nanakofi Adu. They are both concerned with identifying and controlling…

…odds with people like Nanakofi Adu. They are both concerned with identifying and controlling causes, how we die. But where Dr. Boateng uses science to find the answer, Nanakofi Adu sometimes uses sorcery. Evil spirits exist. There are witches who are always…

…death. Identifying the causes of death is crucial to controlling them and not as easy as it might seem in any culture. Dr. Boateng remembers a fetish priest jailed because he touched a child who then died. The child's family claimed it was witchcraft and…

…jailed because he touched a child who then died. The child's family claimed it was witchcraft and the priest was arrested. Dr. Boateng proved that, at least medically, it was a ruptured appendix. And the sorcerer obviously came out of jail. He came out…

…it was a ruptured appendix. And the sorcerer obviously came out of jail. He came out of jail. Nanakofiadu accepts the Boateng diagnosis of a ruptured appendix, but he wonders what caused the appendix to rupture in the first place. And he suggests…