didyouknow

DID YOU KNOW?

570-879-4771

Susquehanna County Coroner's Office

coroner58@echoes.net

Autopsy, Inquest, Records

If upon investigation, the coroner is unable to
determine the cause and manner of death, he then
performs an autopsy on the body. If the cause of
death is undetermined and the manner of death
following the autopsy, he may conduct an inquest
upon a view of the body, as provided by law. At the
inquest, the coroner's duty shall be to ascertain the
cause of death, to determine whether any person
other than the deceased was criminally responsible
therefore by act of neglect, and if so, the identity of
the person, and to examine any further evidence and
witnesses regarding the cause of death. All inquest
proceedings is recorded.

Bodies not to be Moved

In all cases where the coroner has jurisdiction to
investigate the facts and circumstances of death,
the body and its surroundings shall be left
untouched until the coroner (or his appointed
deputy(ies)) has had a view thereof or until he shall
otherwise direct or authorize, except as may be
otherwise provided by law, or as circumstances
may require. Bodies upon a public thoroughfare or
in other places may be removed so much as is
necessary for precaution against traffic accidents or
other serious consequences which might
reasonably be anticipated if they were left intact.

Sudden Deaths Defined

The coroner regards any death as sudden if it
occurs without prior medical attendance by a person
who may lawfully execute a certificate of death in the
County, or if within 24 hours of death, the decedent
was discharged from such medical attendance or a
change of such medical attendance had occurred,
or if any such medical attendance began with 24
hours of death and the medical attendant refuses or
is unable to certify the cause of death. Medical
attendance includes hospitalization.

Cooperation with District Attorney

In the exercise of his duties, the coroner shall (so far
as may be practicable), consult and advise with the
district attorney. The district attorney shall act as
counsel to the coroner in matters relating to
inquests.

Power of Subpoena and Attachment

The coroner has the power to issue subpoenas to
obtain the attendance of any person who it may be
necessary to examine as a witness at any inquest,
and to compel attendance by attachment in like
manner and to the same extent as any court of
common pleas of this Commonwealth may or can
do in cases pending before them, and also to
compel in like manner the production of all papers
and other things relative to such inquest. Such
subpoena and attachment shall be served and
executed by the sheriff or by the coroner himself or
his deputy, as the case may require.

Justices of the Peace not Affected

The provisions of subdivision shall not be
construed to affect any provisions of law requiring
or authorizing justices of the peace in certain cases
to act in place of the coroner.

Release of Coroner's Jurisdiction

Whenever the coroner assumes jurisdiction of a
body pursuant to the provisions of this subdivision
or of any other law, the body shall not be released or
removed from his jurisdiction except upon his
directions and consent, in accordance with law.

Power to Administer Oaths

The coroner has the power to administer oaths
and affirmations to all persons brought or
appearing before him, and any person swearing or
affirming falsely on such examination are guilty of
per jury.

Certificate of Cause of Death

The coroner issues a certificate of cause of death
referred to him by the local registrar of vital
statistics, pursuant to the provisions of the act
known as the "Vital Statistics Law of 1953", and in
all other cases of which he has jurisdiction, if no
person duly authorized by the said act certifies
cause of death.

Inquests and Juries

The coroner may at his discretion summon a jury
and six to be selected from the jury panels of the
court of common pleas. -- The function of such jury
shall be to determine the manner of death and
whether any criminal act or neglect of persons
known or unknown caused such death. Such a jury
shall be paid as provided by law as if they were
serving the court of common pleas.

Commitment of County Prison

If any person appearing before the coroner for
examination refuses to take oath or affirmation, or
after having been sworn or affirmed refuses to make
answer to such questions asked him by the coroner
touching the matters in the inquest, such persons
so refusing could be committed by the coroner to the
county jail by warrant, under his hand and seal,
directed to the sheriff or any constable of the county,
setting forth particularly the causes of such
commitment, until he shall submit to be sworn or
affirmed or to make answers to such questions or
be otherwise legally discharged.

Inquests not Public

The coroner, in his discretion, admit or exclude
members of the public from any inquest or part
thereof, and admit or exclude any person
interested or suspected from which inquest or any
part thereof, but this provision shall not apply to
representatives of the press. No person excluded
may appear by attorney, but any person required to
attend may have benefit of counsel at such
attendance.

NEED ADDITIONAL COPIES
OF A DEATH CERTIFICATE?

The coroner does not issue
completed death certificates.

Contact your funeral director
or click the link below:

Obtaining a Death Certificate
~~ Click the link to the most
comprehensive resource for
locating vital records on the
Internet. Pennsylvania Birth
Certificates, Death Records,
Marriage Licenses and more.....

The Susquehanna County Coroner’s Office
services Susquehanna County primarily and
through mutual aid agreements responds to
adjacent counties and statewide in the event
of major disasters.

Scene Preservation

Due to the increase and complexity of the investigations conducted by the Coroner's Office, it was necessary to establish a way

to preserve

scenes until the arrival of the Coroner and law enforcement. A logical place to start seemed to be with the

emergency

personnel from the fire

departments and ambulance services since they are the first to arrive on scene.

For the past 1

years, Anthony has been facilitating classes for fire departments, ambulance services, every 2 to 3 years. The

idea is that if

these

personnel know what the Coroner and law enforcement agencies are looking for, they can better preserve

these scenes prior to their

arrival.

The program begins with a description of the duties of the Coroner's Office and the various reporting procedures. A form created

the coroner

to be completed by Ambulance service personnel while waiting the arrival of the coroner and law enforcement

provides

crucial information

which may be lost during the response. A brief description of a case is given with emphasis placed

on what

the Coroner is looking for when

processing the scene and what is done with the evidence that is collected.

This has resulted in fewer scenes being disrupted and allowing for the Coroner and police to better process the scen

Natural Vs. Unnatural Deaths

A natural death is any death which is the direct result of the progression of a natural, medically recognized disease

process.

Widespread cancer, acute myocardial infarction due to arteriosclerotic coronary artery disease (heart

attack)

or chronic

obstructive pulmonary disease are all examples of progressive, medically recognized natural

disease

processes which may

ultimately result in the death of the individual. The foreseeable and expected

complications of

these disease processes

would also be classified as natural.

A death falls into the unnatural category when there is an outside intervening influence or circumstance not

recognized

as a

medical disease process which either initiates the lethal chain of events or contributes to the

individuals demise.

Acute renal

failure due to hemolytic uremic syndrome would be classified as natural. Acute renal

failure due to

antifreeze ingestion

would be classified as unnatural with the actual manner (homicide, suicide, or

accident) pending

additional investigation by

the Coroner. Acute peritonitis due to a ruptured appendix would be

classified as natural.

Acute peritonitis due to stab wound

of the abdomen would be classified as unnatural with the

actual manner (homicide,

suicide, or accident) pending additional

investigation by the Coroner.

Factors which may be contributory to a person's death can make that death unnatural as well. An individual with

terminal

cancer who is on pain medication may either intentionally, accidentally, or in certain cases be given

excessive

medication

which would hasten their demise. An individual with moderate coronary artery disease who dies

while using

cocaine for

recreational purposes, even though the drug levels are not in the lethal range, would still

have cocaine

ingestion listed as a

contributory cause, thus making the cause of death arteriosclerotic coronary

artery disease

contributed to by cocaine

ingestion. The manner of death would be accidental as a result of the

contributory cause. In

the same fashion, hip fractures

in the elderly which exacerbate underlying natural disease

processes would have as

the cause of death the underlying

natural disease process contributed to by the hip

fracture. The manner of death

would be accidental as a result of the

contributory cause, in this case, the hip fracture.

Manner of Death

There are five manners of death: Homicide, Suicide, Accident, Natural, and Undetermined.

The manner of death is the circumstances in which the cause of death came out. The cause of death

(bronchopneumonia)

can still be the same despite different manners. Bronchopneumonia is still bronchopneumonia

and would not change as the

cause of death if it resulted from homicidal gunshot wound of the chest, suicidal

barbiturate overdose with subsequent

coma and aspiration of secondary to blunt traumatic chest injuries in a motor

vehicle accident. What would change would be

the manner.

Any death where there is even the remote possibility that the underlying cause of death is anything but natural must

reported to the Coroner's office, despite the length of time between the initial insult and death. For example, in

May of

1991,

and individual who in 1954 developed a well-documented seizure disorder as a result of homicidal

gunshot

wound to the

head is witnessed to have a seizure while in the shower, falls and is scalded. In the hospital he

develops

bronchopneumonia

and dies. The cause of death would be bronchopneumonia, due to thermal injury, due

to seizure

disorder, due to gunshot

wound of the head. Despite the 36-year time interval between the head wound

and the

pneumonia, "but for" the gunshot

wound he would not have had the seizure disorder which led to the

dependant and

related sequence of events ultimately

responsible for his demise. Legally, the manner of death in this

case was

correctly certified as homicide.

As the above case demonstrates, autopsy alone rarely determines the manner of death. The autopsy is only one

facet

the entire investigative process involved in determining a manner of death. A complete medical history,

police

report, scene

investigation and the terminal events must be taken into account if one is to correctly certify the

manner

of death.

Cause of Death

The cause of death is the etiologically specific disease or injury which initiates a dependent and related sequence of

events

ultimately responsible for the death of that individual. The cause of death is the "but for" without which the

individual would

not be dead.

The time interval between the initial insult and death can be instantaneous, as in a massive intracranial hemorrhage

due to

hypertensive cardiovascular disease, or it can be days, weeks or months between the initial event and death.

Bronchogenic

carcinoma may be present for months before the tumor eventually erodes a major blood vessel

resulting

in exanguination

or causes sufficient obstruction as to create a favorable environment for a lethal

pneumonia.

Sometimes there may be confusion regarding the actual cause of death, especially if a considerable time interval

between

the initial insult and death has passed and multiple disease processes have come into play. For example,

individual with

massive abdominal injuries secondary to a motor vehicle accident develops acute pertonitis,

becomes

septic with seizures

and subsequently expires a result of aspiration pneumonia; the blunt traumatic injuries

to the

abdomen are still the

underlying cause of death. "But for" the abdominal injuries, none of the other disease

processes

would be likely to occur in

and of themselves.

Another consideration is that the sequence must be dependent and related. An independent supervening factor

which

would not be a reasonable and foreseeable consequence of the initial disease or injury would alter the cause

and

manner

of death. For example, if our motor vehicle accident patient inadvertently receives a wrong or lethal

dose of

medication

which eventually kills him, that would be an independent supervening factor which is certainly not

reasonable and

foreseeable consequence of his initial injury and thus falls under the jurisdiction of the Coroner.

BY NOW YOU MUST REALIZE THERE IS MUCH MORE TO THE CORONER'S OFFICE THAN ONCE THOUGHT!
IT TAKES MANY HOURS TO INVESTIGATE, AUTOPSY IF NEEDED, COMPLETE WRITTEN DOCUMENTATION, MAKE
PROPER NOTIFICATIONS, INTERFACE WITH MANY AGENCIES AND MUCH MORE TO COMPLETE A THOROUGH AND
TIMELY MEDICOLEGAL DEATH INVESTIGATION FOR THE FAMILIES WE SERVE.

SECTION 9525.3. ELECTED CORONERS TO TAKE COURSE OF INSTRUCTION AND PASS EXAMINATION

(a) Successful examination. - After the effective date of this act, no person elected for the first time to the office of

coroner in this Commonwealth shall be eligible to take the oath of office unless he has attended the course of

instruction and successfully passed the examination given at the conclusion thereof unless, for just cause, the

board

postpones his attendance and examination. In the event the person so elected fails in either of these

respects

without being excused, there shall be deemed to be a vacancy in the office and it shall be filled in

accordance with

law. No person having served as coroner in Pennsylvania prior to the effective date of this act

shall be required to

attend instructions or pass this examination if reelected or appointed subsequent to the

effective date of this act.

This provision shall also apply to chief deputies and full-time deputies who have been

appointed prior to the effective

date of this act. 1988, March 2, P.L. 108, No. 22, Sec. 3.

Did you know...

If the elected coroner does not pass the exam, the office may be declared vacant.

A replacement coroner may be appointed by the Governor.

WORD HISTORY

Coroner comes from Anglo-Norman corouner, a word derived from coroune, “crown.” Corouner was the term used for the

royal judicial officer who was called in Latin custos placitorum coronae, or “guardian of the crown's pleas.” The person holding the office of

coroner, a position dating from the 12th century, was charged with keeping local records of legal proceedings in which the crown had

jurisdiction. He helped raise money for the crown by funneling the property of executed criminals into the king's treasury. The coroner also

investigated any suspicious deaths among the Normans, who as the ruling class wanted to be sure that their deaths were not taken lightly.

At one time in England all criminal proceedings were included in the coroner's responsibilities. Over the years these responsibilities

decreased markedly, but coroners have continued to display morbid curiosity. In the United States, where there is no longer the crown, a

coroner's main duty is the investigation of any sudden, violent, or unexpected death that may not have had a natural cause.

Coroner

An official of a municipal corporation whose responsibilities include the performance of designated functions, the most important of which

is the investigation of the cause of any violent or suspicious death that takes place within the geographical boundaries of his or her

municipality.

The office of the coroner was established at common law and was one of great dignity since coroners dealt primarily with pleas concerning

the crown. Today, statutes establish the terms and procedure of the coroner's office, which has been replaced in some states with the

office of medical examiner.

The main function of a coroner is to conduct inquests, but other powers and duties may include the duty of acting as sheriff, in the event of

the sheriff's incapacity, as conservator of the peace, or as magistrate. The duties are considered to be either judicial, ministerial, or both.

ALSO SEE

http://

www.answers.com/topic/coroner?cat=bi

-f