Hanzlick R, Combs D
Department of Forensic Pathology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA USA.
JAMA. 1998 Mar 18;279(11):870-4. doi: 10.1001/jama.279.11.870.
Medical legal investigations in the United States (primarily unnatural or suspected unnatural deaths) are carried out by medical examiner or coroner systems. Medical examiners-usually physicians and generally with training in pathology, medicolegal death investigation, and performance of forensic autopsies-generally have greater expertise in unnatural death investigations than do coroners.
To document the locations and implementation year for states and counties that have medical examiner systems that have replaced coroner systems or that are defined in statute and assist coroners in their investigations.
Review of published information and national survey in 1997.
United States.
County medical examiners and state medical examiners or their administrators.
The location of states and counties with medical examiner systems, the implementation year for each system, and the proportion of counties and population served by medical examiner systems.
A total of 79 of 91 county medical examiners responded. A total of 36 states have at least 1 medical examiner system at the county, district, or state level in which there is no coroner involved in the death investigation process. Only 22 states have medical examiner death investigation systems in place and have no coroners in the state. Among 13 states in which some counties have coroner systems and some have medical examiner systems, medical examiner systems exist in 8% of counties and serve 43% of the population. Medical examiner systems that operate without coroner involvement serve about 48% of the population nationwide. Few state or county medical examiner systems have been implemented since 1990.
In this century, medical examiner systems have gradually replaced coroner systems, but such change has slowed in recent years, with medical examiner systems now serving about 48% of the national population.
美国的医学法律调查（主要针对非自然死亡或疑似非自然死亡）由法医或验尸官系统开展。法医——通常是医生，一般接受过病理学、法医学死亡调查及法医尸检方面的培训——在非自然死亡调查方面通常比验尸官拥有更丰富的专业知识。
记录已取代验尸官系统或在法规中明确规定并协助验尸官进行调查的法医系统所在的州和县及其实施年份。
对已发表信息进行回顾并于1997年开展全国性调查。
美国。
县法医以及州法医或其管理人员。
设有法医系统的州和县的位置、每个系统的实施年份，以及由法医系统服务的县和人口比例。
91位县法医中共有79位做出回应。共有36个州在县、区或州层面至少设有1个法医系统，在死亡调查过程中没有验尸官参与。只有22个州设有法医死亡调查系统且该州没有验尸官。在13个部分县设有验尸官系统、部分县设有法医系统的州中，法医系统存在于8%的县，服务43%的人口。不涉及验尸官的法医系统服务全国约48%的人口。自1990年以来，很少有州或县实施法医系统。
在本世纪，法医系统已逐渐取代验尸官系统，但近年来这种变化有所放缓，目前法医系统服务约48%的全国人口。
