Coroner Model
Definition
A death-inquiry system headed by an elected or appointed official (the coroner) who need not be a physician. Holds legal authority to determine whether an autopsy is needed. Used in England and Wales, parts of the US, and several Commonwealth countries.
- Head official
- Coroner, elected or appointed
- Medical qualification
- Not required
- Authority
- Decides whether an autopsy is needed
- Used in
- England and Wales, parts of the US, several Commonwealth countries
Common questions
How does the coroner model differ from the medical examiner model?+
A medical examiner is required to be a physician, often a forensic pathologist, appointed rather than elected in most US states, while a coroner can be a layperson holding a legal or administrative office who relies on pathologists for the medical findings.
Why does a jurisdiction keep an unqualified official making the autopsy decision?+
The role is historically judicial rather than medical, focused on establishing whether a death falls within the legal categories requiring investigation, with the medical work delegated to a forensic pathologist once that threshold decision is made.
Related terms
- Algor Mortis
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- Forensic Nurse Death Investigator (FNDI)
- A registered nurse with medicolegal death investigation training who conducts scene assessment, collects ante-mortem history, documents postmortem findings, and coordinates information between...
- Livor Mortis
- Postmortem pooling of blood in dependent tissues producing a purple-red discolouration. Becomes fixed at roughly 8-12 hours; discordance between liver position and...
- Medical Examiner Model
- A death-inquiry system headed by a forensic pathologist who holds statutory authority to investigate and certify deaths falling within specified categories (homicide,...
- Medicolegal Death Investigator (MLDI)
- A broader category of non-physician death investigators, including but not limited to nurses, who work under the authority of a coroner or...