Local police are anxiously awaiting autopsy results in the death of Dr. Paul Gerber, a general internist at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Gerber died on Jan. 2 alone in his office, leaving loved ones, colleagues and police perplexed.
Investigators have since ruled out homicide as the cause of death. However, their investigation has also found that the 55-year-old Gerber was mentally and physically sound, showing no signs of depression and often playing basketball.
Despite Gerber's good health, the police have not yet dismissed suicide as the cause of death.
"We're looking into other possibilities," Lebanon Police Lt. Jim Alexander said. "We haven't found anything that would lead us to believe foul play was involved."
Before they are able to make any solid claims about the case, police will have to wait six weeks for the results of the autopsy.
Grafton County Attorney Ken Anderson told the New Hampshire Sunday News that a hypodermic needle was found in proximity to Gerber's body.
"It was clear that some substance had been injected," Anderson was quoted as saying, adding that it was not clear whether the substance and its amount were "such that the doctor knew that [they] would cause his death or whether the death was accidental."
Gerber's body was discovered in his office late on the afternoon of Jan. 2 after staffers noticed he had not been seen for several hours. An emergency medical team tried unsuccessfully to revive him.
Described by colleagues as a brilliant doctor, Gerber had a long waiting list of hopeful patients. He had worked at the DHMC for 24 years.
Gerber also taught at Dartmouth Medical School as the Alma Hass Milham Distinguished Chair in Clinical Medicine and was a volunteer at the Good Neighbor Health Clinic in White River Junction.
