Page 78 - CFDI Guide

• Commonly Known: Autopsy Report and Toxicology (state, county, hospital and outside

Laboratories).
• Lesser Known: Autopsy Body Diagram(s), Autopsy Attendance Sheet, Coroner Investigator’s

Report / Scene Narrative, Scene and/or Autopsy Photographs, Clothing Log, Evidence Log,

Personal Property Log, and Medication Inventory.
• All other unspecified reports, documentation and work product created and maintained by

the office and staff.

All death and SBI cases, the following should also be requested, received and reviewed:
• From all known clinics, hospitals, institutions, rehabilitation centers and programs, elder care

facilities, treating physicians, reviewing physicians, insurance companies, pharmacies, ambulance

services and employers.
• Request all medical charts, prescription data, intake and discharge summaries, all history and

physical data, patient history, other attending physicians, clinics, hospitals and care facilities.

The CFDI should know the responsibilities of the coroner and medical examiner offices, including how they
differ from other law enforcement agencies. The duties of the coroner vary by jurisdiction – in some they

are also the county attorney, others they are a funeral director, and in others they are appointed medical
examiners. They involve responding at all times to deaths falling within their statutory requirements. For

the purpose of this course, the key duties found in essentially all jurisdictions include:
▪ The coroner (or their agent - deputy) may declare, legally pronounce, death if they determine that

there exists irreversible cessation of circulatory [pulse] and respiratory function.
▪ Only a coroner, Medical Doctor [MD] or Doctor of Osteopathy [DO] can pronounce death – not

paramedics, physician assistants, nurses, chiropractors or PhDs.
▪ A physician (MD or DO, not an RN or PA) may declare a person “brain dead” after a series of tests

prior to the coroner’s death pronouncement.

For this reason, and due to factors of the underlying incident, the pronouncement of death is often not the
same as the date and time of death. However, often the pronouncement of death is used on the death

certificate as the date and time of death. It is this author’s opinion that this practice is wrong – the official
investigation should determine at least the approximate date and time of death. There is a separate entry

for the pronounced date and time of death. If these are the same, it should be verified or the actual /
approximate date and time of death determined. Pronouncement is the official declaration of death and

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