| Job Category |  | Business & Financial Operations |
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| Job Description | | Medical examiners and coroners (ME/Cs) are responsible for investigating sudden or violent deaths and for providing accurate, legally defensible determinations of the causes of these deaths. The information provided by ME/Cs plays a critical role in the judicial system and in decisions made by public safety and public health agencies. The records of ME/Cs, which provide vital information about patterns and trends of mortality in the United States, are also an excellent source of data for public health studies and surveillance.
Some of the more specific tasks you'd do are direct activities of physicians and technologists and investigations into circumstances of deaths to fix responsibility for accidental, violent, or unexplained death. They may confer with officials of public health and law enforcement agencies to coordinate interdepartmental activities and testify at inquests, hearings, and court trials.
Death investigation practices often vary considerably between jurisdictions (whether state, county, district, or city). Perhaps the most noticeable difference is that some jurisdictions use the medical examiner system and others use the coroner system. The type of system used may be uniform throughout a state or may vary from county to county within a state. The following are some basic differences between medical examiners and coroners:
Medical examiners -- May have state, district, or county jurisdiction; usually are appointed; usually must be licensed physicians.
Coroners -- May have district or county jurisdiction, usually are elected, need not be physicians. Usually the only prerequisites for serving as a coroner are that a person be of a minimum age (often 18) and a resident of the county or district . |
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| Working Conditions | | Requires using your hands to handle, control, or feel objects, tools, or controls. Coroners are often required to wear common protective or safety equipment. They must be very exact and highly accurate in performing their jobs. |
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| Salary Range | | Information not yet available |
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