“Surveys of NAME members revealed that medical examiner independence was important to most members. Over 70% of survey respondents had been subjected to pressures to influence their findings, and many had suffered negative consequences for resisting those influences. In a separate study, over 30% of respondents indicated that fear of litigation affected their diagnostic decision-making. In 2009, the National Research Council of the National Academies published recommendations to strengthen the forensic sciences; they specifically recommended that medical examiner and coroner offices should be independent from law enforcement agencies and prosecutors’ offices.”
“In many places, the person tasked with making the official ruling on how people die isn’t a doctor at all. In nearly 1,600 counties across the country, elected or appointed coroners who may have no qualifications beyond a high-school degree have the final say on whether fatalities are homicides, suicides, accidents or the result of natural or undetermined causes.”
Apparently, it is not uncommon for police, courthouse, and jailhouse corruption to bleed over into cause of death examinations. Obviously, medical examiners need independence (and certification), perhaps a federal takeover or a state takeover? Stong whistleblower protections against fraudulent abuse have been needed for decades if not longer. LS