Advertisement
Research Article| Volume 18, ISSUE 2, P279-322, June 1998

Developing Medicolegal Death Investigator Systems in Forensic Pathology

  • Jeffrey M. Jentzen
    Affiliations
    From the Department of Pathology, Medical College of Wisconsin, and the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
    Search for articles by this author
  • Mary Fran Ernst
    Correspondence
    Address reprint requests to Mary Fran Ernst, Chief Investigator, St. Louis University Medical School, 6039 Helen Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63134.
    Affiliations
    The Department of Pathology, Division of Forensic and Environmental Pathology, St. Louis University School of Medicine, and the St. Louis County Medical Examiner’s Office, St. Louis, Missouri
    Search for articles by this author
      This paper is only available as a PDF. To read, Please Download here.
      As a result of recent national events involving high-profile murder cases, medicolegal death investigation has begun to slowly receive the attention it deserves. Despite continued local problems of financial support and political control, the development of regionalized centers of forensic excellence is gradually improving the access of rural and suburban aeas to high-quality forensic science services. Recent efforts to improve the quality of lay death investigators through hiring practices, training, and certification promises to eventually provide more professionally qualified and experienced death investigators.
      To read this article in full you will need to make a payment

      Purchase one-time access:

      Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online access
      One-time access price info
      • For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
      • For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'

      Subscribers receive full online access to your subscription and archive of back issues up to and including 2002.

      Content published before 2002 is available via pay-per-view purchase only.

      Subscribe:

      Subscribe to Clinics in Laboratory Medicine
      Already a print subscriber? Claim online access
      Already an online subscriber? Sign in
      Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect

      References

        • Clark S.
        Job and Task Analysis for Training and Certification of Medicolegal Death Investigators.
        Occupational Research and Assessment, Big Rapids MI1994
        • Clark S.
        • Ernst M.F.
        • Haglund W.
        • Jentzen J.
        Medicolegal Death Investigator: A Systematic Training Program for the Professional Death Investigator.
        Occupational Research and Assessment, Big Rapids, MI1996
      1. Coombs D, Parrish R, Ing R: Death Investigation in the United States and Canada, 1990. Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, August 1992

        • Eckert W.
        The forensic pathology specialty certifications.
        Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 1988; 9: 85-89
      2. Ernst MF: Curing the ills of death investigation systems in the United States [abstract D22]. In Proceedings of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, New York, 1997, p 90

        • Haglund W.
        • Ernst M.F.
        The lay death investigator.
        Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 1997; 18: 21-25
      3. Hansen M: Body of evidence. ABA Journal, June: 60-69, 1995

        • Hanzlick R.
        Death registration: History, methods, and legal issues.
        J Forensic Sei. 1997; 42: 265-269
        • Hanzlick R.
        On the need for more expertise in death investigation (and a National Office of Death Investigation Affairs?).
        Arch Lab Med. 1996; 120: 329-332
        • Hanzlick R.
        Coroner training needs: A numeric and geographic analysis.
        JAMA. 1996; 276: 1775-1778
        • Hanzlick R.
        Automation of Medical Examiner Offices.
        Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 1993; 14: 34-38
        • Hanzlick R.
        • Combs D.
        • Parrish R.
        • et al.
        Death investigation in the United States, 1990: A survey of statutes, systems, and educational requirements.
        J Forensic Sei. 1993; 38: 628-632
        • Hanzlick R.
        • Parrish G.
        • Combs D.
        Standard Language in Death Investigation Laws.
        J Forensic Sei. 1994; 39: 637-643
        • Jason D.
        • Lantz P.
        • Preisser J.
        A national survey of autopsy cost and workload.
        J Forensic Sei. 1997; 42: 270-275
        • Jentzen J.
        • Clark S.
        • Ernst M.F.
        Medicolegal death investigator preemployment test development.
        Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 1996; 17: 112-116
      4. Johnson J: Speaking for the dead: Forensic scientists and American justice in the twentieth century. PhD dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1992

      5. Lawrence S: Issue Brief: Counties, Coroners, and Death Investigations. National Association of Counties, August 1996

        • Luke J.
        Disadvantaged medical examiner systems.
        Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 1994; 15: 93-94
        • Mohr J.
        Doctors and the Law: Medical Jurisprudence in Nineteenth-Century America.
        Oxford University Press, New York1993
        • Prahlow J.
        • Lantz P.
        Medical examiner/death investigator training requirements in state medical examiner systems.
        J Forensic Sei. 1995; 40: 55-58
      6. Public Health Service: Death Investigation: An Analysis of Laws and Policies of the United States, Each State and Jurisdiction, January 1977. DHEW Publ No. (HSA) 78-5252, 1978

      7. Schultz O, Morgan E: The Coroner and Medical Examiner, Bulletin of the National Research Council, No. 64, Washington, DC, 1928

        • Shemonsky N.
        • Reiber K.
        • Williams L.
        • et al.
        Jurisdiction on military installations.
        Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 1993; 14: 39-42
      8. Special Communication: College and university forensic science programs-graduate and undergraduate.
        J Forensic Sei. 1994; 39: 577-586
      9. Standards for Inspection and Accreditation of a Modem Medicolegal Investigation System.
        ed 2. National Association of Medical Examiners, St. Louis1988
      10. Standing Bear Z: Conflicts of Interest in US Coroner Systems [abstract D6]. Proceedings of the American Association of Forensic Sciences, Seattle, 1995, p 84

        • Voelker R.
        More expertise needed in death investigations.
        JAMA. 1995; 273: 1164-1165
        • Wecht C.
        United States Medicolegal Autopsy Laws.
        ed 3. Information Press, Arlington, VA1989
      11. Wetli C: Forensic pathology for the hospital pathologist: Part I and II. Laboratory Medicine, April and May 1989, pp 233-240, 299-304

        • Write W.
        • Hirsch C.
        The physician assistant as death investigator.
        J Forensic Sei. 1987; 32: 1059-1061
      12. US Department of Justice, Research Report: National Guidelines for Death Investigation. National Institute of Justice, December, 1997