Cremation permanently destroys bodily evidence. There’s no body to exhume. There’s no bone or hair to test for DNA or poisons. That’s one reason a county coroner or medical examiner (C/ME) has to authorize all cremations in Pennsylvania. The other reason? It’s the law. State statute 16 P.S. § 1218-B) requires “a death of an…
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Death Investigation in Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania Center for Rural PA (CRP) released an in-depth report this week on the state’s medicolegal death investigation system. Bottom line – there isn’t one system. There are 67 different systems, one for every county. Inequitable Death Investigations There are a lot of disturbing findings in the report. This post will look only at…
Maternal Mortality and the Pregnancy Checkbox
The U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate among developed countries. All death investigators and certifiers should understand the importance of the pregnancy checkbox on the death certificate.