Coroner Duties that Differ from Typical Medical Examiner Duties

Abstract

State death investigation laws were reviewed to determine which duties coroners have that go beyond death investigation and are not typical duties of medical examiners. Twenty-four states have statutes giving coroners one or more other such duties. Those duties include acting as the sheriff and/or being in charge of the jail when the sheriff is unavailable, serving as public administrator, providing ambulance services, supervising the sanitary conditions at penal institutions, performing clinical rape examinations and mental commitments, attending judicial executions, filling in as a county commissioner, and operating small claims courts and issuing warrants. Colleagues in many states reported that these statutory duties have actually been performed, although rarely. If a state or local jurisdiction were considering transition from a coroner system to a medical examiner system, any legislative change would need to consider whether the medical examiner would assume all duties of the coroner, or whether other solutions would be needed to carry out the tasks that are not related to death investigation. Legislation to change from coroner to medical examiner systems would need to ensure that any such essential services unrelated to death investigation are transitioned to other officials.