My Father's Story
The personal tragedy that inspired this legislation
François Pigeaud
1965 - 2014
"It is not the length of life, but the depth of life." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
In 2014, my father died in a single-car accident. He veered off the road slowly before crashing into a boulder and succumbing to his injuries. The circumstances were immediately suspicious—this wasn't a typical accident. The slow, gradual drift off the road indicated something had gone wrong before the crash itself, suggesting an underlying medical problem.
A toxicology screen was performed, which came back negative. There were no substances impairing his driving. But that only deepened the mystery. What caused him to lose control? The medical examiner performed what they described as an "external autopsy"—essentially a visual examination of the body. No internal investigation. No organ examination. No definitive answers.
We were left with nothing but questions. Did he have a heart attack? A stroke? An aneurysm? A seizure? We'll never know. And that uncertainty carries a weight beyond grief—it carries fear. Health problems can be hereditary. Without knowing what took my father from us, we have no way of knowing if his family carries the same risk. Should we be screened for cardiac conditions? Neurological disorders? We're living in the dark.
The lack of closure is devastating. The lack of medical information is terrifying. We wanted answers. We deserved answers. But the system that was supposed to provide them decided an external look was sufficient. No formal autopsy was performed. No investigation into why a healthy person suddenly lost control of their vehicle. My mother was not even informed of her right to request an autopsy in the first place.
Had she known then what we know now—that she could request a private autopsy, that independent pathologists could provide the answers the state wouldn't—perhaps the circumstances would be different. But she didn't know. She was grieving, confused, and the system offered no guidance, no options, no recourse.
No family should have to live with this uncertainty. No family should have to fear inheriting unknown conditions because the state decided their loved one's death wasn't worth investigating. That is why I am advocating for Pigeaud's Law—so that my father's story, and our family's ongoing fear, might spare others the same fate.
