A Synopsis of the 1928 National Research Council's Bulletin on “The Coroner and the Medical Examiner”

Abstract

The 1928 National Research Council (NRC) Bulletin on “ The Coroner and the Medical Examiner” is an often-referenced report because it compares the two system types and recommends that coroner systems be abolished and replaced with medical examiner systems. Copies of the Bulletin are difficult to find, so this article provides a synopsis of the Bulletin's content. The NRC Bulletin 64 was prepared under the auspices of the seven-member “Committee on Medicolegal Problems.” The report itself begins with a historical summary of the coroner system and discussion of the medical and judicial duties of coroners, along with the inadequacy of existing autopsy facilities. Next is a review of previous surveys of coroner systems in New York City, Cleveland, and Missouri. The Committee conducted its own surveys of the coroner systems in New Orleans, San Francisco, and Chicago. The Committee also studied the medical examiner systems in Boston, other parts of Massachusetts, and in New York City. Other sections deal with the comparative costs of the two systems, teaching of forensic medicine, medicolegal institutes, scientific publications, a summary of defects of coroner systems and advantages of medical examiner systems, and eight summary recommendations. We must remember that the historical Bulletin was written nearly a century ago, and there has been much improvement in medicolegal death investigation since that time, many improvements having their roots in the NRC Bulletin recommendations. The Bulletin's recommendations have been fulfilled to various extents in many parts of the United States.