Why are coroners elected

It was here in that occurred the Battle of Tippecanoe, a well-organized attempt by Native Americans from numerous tribes, led by Shawnee leader Tecumseh, to resist the westward expansion of the United States and hold Indiana Governor William Harrison, loathed among Native Americans, accountable for a crooked treaty he had negotiated in In , William Harrison was elected the ninth president of the United States and on March 4, he was sworn into office.

On July 9, , Zachary Taylor died in office, reportedly from acute gastroenteritis, though in his body was exhumed under the suspicion that he had been poisoned with arsenic—results showed this not to be the case. And the curse, apparently, continued. Abraham Lincoln, first elected in , was assassinated in On September 19, , newly elected President James A.

Garfield was assassinated by Charles J. President Warren G. Harding suffered a heart attack and died on August 2, On April 12, , Franklin D. Roosevelt collapsed and died as a result of a cerebral hemorrhage. John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Autopsies and the office of coroner or medical examiner played a significant role in all of these deaths. And this office will play a role in any future presidential deaths.

And what about the coroner calling for an autopsy of another coroner? This seems like a fitting place to end an essay on coroners in America, but I could not dig up any examples. Medical Examiners are generally not elected, but appointed to their positions, and are always physicians, usually forensic pathologists, who have specialized training in death investigation.

Medical Examiners can manage a medicolegal death investigation office, perform death investigations, complete autopsies, interpret toxicology and other laboratory testing results, collect and document evidence, and provide expert testimony.

The Medical Examiner system therefore is considered by many to be a modern, streamlined approach to death investigation, and the likely future trend of death investigation in the U. Over half of the U. Washoe County converted its Coroner system to a Medical Examiner system in , by county ordinance. A month later, Nisbet pulled a gun on his black neighbor and delivered a racist rant that got him ousted from office. Coroners are just one part of the often confusing patchwork of death investigators in the United States.

Some states and larger cities appoint medical examiners, who are generally required to be physicians. But the roughly coroner offices in the United States are on the front line of death investigations. Coroner Frank Minyard, a trumpet-playing former gynecologist, was beloved in New Orleans.

The city re-elected him over and over again for forty years, until he retired in Yet his office had a tendency to conclude that suspicious deaths in police custody were simply accidents or natural causes. Minyard and a forensic pathologist who worked under him, Dr. Paul McGarry, determined a drug overdose had killed Cayne Miceli, a woman who died while restrained in jail.

An independent autopsy found that not only did she not have any drugs in her system, but that she had had severe asthma, a condition that turned lethal once she had been strapped down flat on her back by guards.

Almost two decades earlier, a man named Adolph Archie grabbed a gun from a security guard and killed a police officer. Texas has justices of peace instead of coroners. Must attend training if not already trained and certified in the practice of medico-legal death investigation. Code R. Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link. Public Health Professionals Gateway. Section Navigation. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Syndicate.