¶ … medical examiners of years past to the current technological advancements of medical examiners today. The earliest medical examiners were called coroners, and they still exist in some areas of the United States, although they have largely been replaced by medical examiners. Medical examiners are licensed physicians trained in pathology and death investigation.
In the past, coroners had much more power than they do today. They were more involved in criminal justice, and could even arrest prisoners and set their bail. They were not paid a salary, but paid for each inquest they conducted. They were also open to bribes and embezzlement, since they did not receive a salary. Families would offer bribes to cover up suicides, and politicians would offer bribes to cover up embarrassing accidents or other deaths that might impact their political careers. One New York City coroner said, "A few of the coroners,...
Their only interest in each new case was to discover how they could extort money, and they used the power of their office for blackmail purposes" (Timmermans). In many rural areas, the coroner was actually the sheriff, who had little medical knowledge or training, and often just guessed at the cause of death. Even today in some areas, coroners can be anyone, from a tow-truck driver to a funeral director, and everything in between. They conduct inquests, and can call in a jury of citizens to determine the cause of death. They did not have advanced tools, and often did not have advanced training, so often; their determinations were wrong, or at least flawed.
However, most medical examiners today are very different from the coroners of the past. Most are trained physicians, who have additional training in…
