Who Wants to Be a Coroner?

One of the areas discussed at length in yesterday's National Academy of Sciences report on forensic science was the "fragmented and inconsistent" system for death investigations. The report calls for standardization of the way deaths are reviewed across the country and sufficient training for the people making these crucial calls. Medical examiners and coroners often give the testimony that sends people to prison for life, but their training is far from standardized. Medical examiners are at least some type of doctor. Coroners might have gone to a weekend course and have no medical training at all. In 2007, an 18-year-old was elected the Deputy Coroner of Jay County, Indiana. (Her dad was the Coroner)

But changing this system won't be easy. The report points out that there have been efforts since 1877 to abolish the coroner's office in the U.S., and the NAS even reported on this 80 years ago, saying “the office has conclusively demonstrated its incapacity to perform the functions customarily required of it.” Yet 29 states still use coroners in some capacity. I hope this report doesn't fall on the same deaf ears the last one did, eight decades ago, when a different depression was right around the corner.

Medical examiners aren't spared by the NAS report, either. The committee called for standards and accreditation in their work as well, so it can be trusted by law enforcement and the judicial system. Reason Magazine today published a story that makes the damage caused by rogue medical examiners all too clear. The magazine has evidence that Steven Hayne, who until recently served as Mississippi's de facto state medical examiner for years and claimed to conduct an astonishing 1,500 autopsies a year, fabricated bitemark evidence that sent a man to death row. Read Radley Balko's shocking story here.

One more note on yesterday's report. William Newmiller made a great point in responding to my post on the NAS report yesterday that another of the report's important recommendations was to separate crime labs from law enforcement and prosecutors' offices. The report is simply brimming with major recommendations like this, and I want to keep digesting it slowly. So my plan is to do several more posts about forensic science and this report's progress, in the weeks ahead. If there are forensic issues you want to see covered, let me know. I'm at matt [at] change.org.

Now, what are you waiting for? Go get trained to be a coroner!