Complete Story
02/20/2009
Coroner or No Coroner, How Do You Know?
by: Mark Kassouf, Assistant State Registrar/Chief Fraud Officer, ODH
The Ohio Department of Health, Office of Vital Statistics is often asked by funeral directors an age old question. How do we know if a death should be a coroner's case? Unfortunately, there are no simple answers to this type of question but there are some simple guidelines that can be followed that may take you in the right direction.
In the past, there seemed to always be confusion as to who can sign death certificates for differing causes and manners of death. Recent changes to the Ohio Revised Code (ORC) Section 3705.16 have helped to clear up some of the confusion by setting forth when a non-coroner physician may sign a death certificate.
The ORC now states that physicians (non-coroners) may sign death certificates only for manners of death that are of a "Natural" nature. This section of law also states that a coroner may choose to decline jurisdiction of a referred natural cause of death case. This means that the coroner may decline a case (Natural Manner only), and refer it to a physician for signing.
The change in ORC 3705.16 also states that a coroner will accept cases which occur under any circumstances mentioned in section 313.12 of the Ohio Revised Code. ORC 313.12 states: "When any person dies as a result of criminal or other violent means, by casualty, by suicide, or in any suspicious or unusual manner, when any person, including a child under two years of age, dies suddenly when in apparent good health, or when any mentally retarded person or developmentally disabled person dies regardless of the circumstances, the physician called in attendance, or any member of an ambulance service, emergency squad, or law enforcement agency who obtains knowledge thereof arising from the person's duties, shall immediately notify the office of the coroner of the known facts concerning the time, place, manner, and circumstances of the death, and any other information that is required pursuant to sections 313.01 to 313.22 of the Revised Code. In such cases, if a request is made for cremation, the funeral director called in attendance shall immediately notify the coroner."
Cases such as the following which include Accidental, Homicide, and Suicide should be referred to the coroner.
(List not all inclusive)
Accidental, Homicidal, Suicidal Deaths:
All forms including deaths arising from employment
- Anesthetic accident (death on the operating table or prior to recovery from anesthesia).
- Blows or other forms of mechanical violence.
- Crushed beneath falling objects.
- Cutting or stabbing.
- Drowning (actual or suspected).
- Electric shock.
- Explosion.
- Exposure.
- Firearms.
- Fracture of bones (not pathological), such cases to be reported even when fracture is not primarily responsible for the death.
- Falls.
- Carbon monoxide poisoning (resulting from natural gas, automobile exhaust or other).
- Hanging.
- Heat Exhaustion.
- Poisoning (food, occupational, narcotic, sedatives and others).
- Strangulation.
- Suffocation (foreign objects in bronchi by bed clothing or other means).
- Vehicular accidents (automobile, street-car, bus, railroad, motorcycle, bicycle or other).
In addition to the above mentioned occurrences, the coroner should be contacted when a person dies in a sudden and unexpected manner. The following should be referred to the coroner. (List not all inclusive)
Sudden Deaths:
When in apparent good health or in any suspicious or unusual manner including:
- Alcoholism.
- Sudden death on the street, at home, in a public place, at place of employment.
- Death under unknown circumstances, whenever there are no witnesses or where little or no information can be elicited concerning the deceased person. Deaths of this type include those persons whose dead bodies are found in the open, in places of temporary shelter, or in their home under conditions which offer no clues as to the cause of death.
- Deaths which follow injuries suspected at employment whenever the circumstances surrounding each injury may ultimately be the subject of investigation. Deaths in this classification include:
- Caisson disease (bends)
- Industrial infections (anthrax, septicemia following wounds including gas bacillus infections, tetanus, etc.
- Silicosis
- Industrial poisoning (acids, alkalizes, aniline, benzene, carbon moxide, carbon tetrachloride, cyanogens, lead, nitrous, fumes, etc).
- Contusions, abrasions, fractures, burns (flame, chemical, or electrical) received during employment which in the opinion of attending the physician are of sufficient importance, either as the cause of or contributing factor to the cause of death, to warrant certifying them on the death certificate.
- All stillborn infants where there is suspicion of illegal interference.
- Deaths of persons where the attending physician cannot be found or deaths of persons who have not been attended by a physician within two weeks prior to the date of death.
- All deaths occurring within 24 hours of admission to a hospital unless the patient has been under continuous care of a physician has history of or a natural disease which is responsible for death.
If a funeral director is unsure whether a coroner should be contracted when working with a deceased individual, it is suggested that you contact the coroner and allow them to accept or decline the death.
