A medical examiner is a medically qualified government officer whose duty is to investigate deaths and injuries that occur under unusual or suspicious circumstances, to perform post-mortem examinations, and in some jurisdictions to initiate inquests.
A medical examiner is a government official who
- Investigates human deaths
- Determines cause of death
- Issues death certificates
- Maintains death records
- Responds to deaths in mass disasters
- Identifies unknown dead
- Other functions depending on local law
In some jurisdictions with English origins or history, a coroner performs these and other duties. Within the United States, there is a mixture of coroner and medical examiner systems, and in some states, dual systems. The meaning of these terms, duties, and requirements to hold office vary widely between jurisdictions.
Read more about Medical Examiner: Qualifications, In Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the word medical:
“The greatest analgesic, soporific, stimulant, tranquilizer, narcotic, and to some extent even antibiotic—in short, the closest thing to a genuine panacea—known to medical science is work.”
—Thomas Szasz (b. 1920)