A Question of Death

Quincy untersucht die Leiche eines Mannes und stellt als Todesursache Typhus fest. Da der Tote in einem privaten Garten gefunden wurde, ist die Gefahr einer Seuchenausbreitung gegeben. Quincy will schnellstmöglich herausfinden, wie und wo sich der Mann angesteckt hat und stößt bei seinen Ermittlungen auf unerwarteten Widerstand.

The M.E.'s office is helping a hospital with their organ donation program. Quincy goes there to help declare a young man dead and he was told that his kidney would go to a man whose constantly having dialysis. Quincy and the doctor talk to the boy's parents and convince them to donate his organs for transplant. Later a lawyer upon learning of this sues the hospital for coercing the parents for gain. Quincy's in awe cause the man he was told who would receive the organ is not a man of means. He learns that the hospital director overruled the doctor and had the organ given to a wealthy man. Now the whole program is in jeopardy unless Quincy can prove to the parents that their son was brain dead at the time.

Quincy viene incaricato di effettuare un'autopsia. Dai rilevamenti e dalle analisi del caso emerge che le prime ipotesi formulate dagli inquirenti sono errate o incomplete (di solito si riconduce ad un atto criminale un decesso che in prima istanza è attribuito a fatalità o cause naturali). Questo spinge Quincy ad andare oltre le proprie competenze professionali per indagare in prima persona. Agendo in questo modo, verrà spesso a scontrarsi con le leggi federali, con il Dipartimento di Polizia o con altri enti o figure governative. Nonostante la stragrande maggioranza degli episodi abbia carattere auto conclusivo, la serie riesce, sottotraccia, a raccontare la vita privata (sia presente che passata) del protagonista principale.