In a S1983 First Amendment retaliatory firing claim, outside contact with the medical examiner and an expert's criticism of their methodology is insufficient to raise a question of pretext for trial when a law enforcement officer is fired based on a medical review that was ordered after he made accusations of highly abnormal corruption in the office.
http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/rssExec.pl?Submit=Display&Path=Y2018/D06-19/C:17-2687:J:Flaum:aut:T:fnOp:N:2172987:S:0
Since 2011. An occasional commonplacing of the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal.
Neither an authoritative statement of the law nor legal advice. Quick work.