Coroners vs. Medical Examiners

You see them in the police procedurals all the time: the person every cop turns to when they want to know about the body. I can’t count the number of short scenes in morgues featuring someone kitted out in scrubs tossing around information like time and cause of death.

Obviously, it’s someone with extensive medical knowledge, but that’s where things get complicated. Are they a coroner? A medical examiner? A forensic pathologist?

Coroners
This role has been around for hundreds of years, but you don’t actually need any medical training for it. The coroner is an elected (or appointed) official whose job is to determine the cause and manner of death and sign death certificates. That seems like a pretty tall order for someone who hasn’t even been to medical school, which is why they usually hire freelance forensic pathologists.

In some counties, the sheriff or a deputy will also work as the coroner. Just to make things more complicated, some places have an official medical examiner who also holds the title of coroner.

Medical Examiners
Unlike the coroner system, medical examiners are hired normally, no election necessary. Medical examiners are physicians, typically forensic pathologists, who may have additional training. Unlike coroners, medical examiners can do their own autopsies, run toxicology screens and other chemical tests, and perform other duties of a coroner.

In the United States, there are more medical examiners than coroners, likely because it’s a more efficient system. It’s not uncommon for counties to convert old coroner systems to medical examiner systems, so it’s safe to say it’s the way of the future.

Forensic Pathologists
Unlike the titles above, a forensic pathologist is often someone who works for the coroner’s office or the medical examiner’s office. Typically, the medical examiner is a forensic pathologist. However, there are other pathologists who work in both departments, focusing on tissue samples, chemical analyses, and other things besides autopsies.