ABSTRACT
The Model Postmortem Examination Act of 1954 basically sets out several categories of death that should be reported to the medical examiner or coroner. These include the following:
1. Any death that is known or suspected to have resulted from violence (including injury or poisoning of all types)
2. Any death that involves a potential public health threat such as contagious disease
3. Sudden deaths not caused by readily recognized disease 4. Deaths of inmates of public institutions not hospitalized therein for disease 5. Deaths resulting from occupational disease or injury Many states have changed the language in their laws to include more descriptive
terminology or other types of death such as accidents, violent deaths, deaths that are thought to have resulted from attempts at criminal abortion, and numerous other categories. The net result, however, is that most states have laws that require deaths that are known or suspected as having resulted from any type of injury or poisoning, or which are sudden, unexpected, and unexplained be reported to the medical examiner or coroner (Figure 21.1). That’s the long and the short of it.
