The opioid epidemic combined with a shortage of forensic pathologists is affecting the medicolegal investigation of drug deaths.
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Cremations, Coroners, and Red Flags
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…
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…