You're thinking most places have a coroner's department with professionally trained medical examiners/pathologists like on Law & Order or, older, Quincy.
In fact, it's only major cities that have this sort of thing. In most small towns, the sheriff is the coroner and funeral directors are appointed as his deputies, unless there's some sort of serious crime for which a determination is needed, and then it's often farmed out to the state police lab or something. I remember that as recently as the mid-1980's Chicago's coroners were appointed positions, usually friends of the aldermen, and required no medical or scientific training.
If a person a few days post-op were to die, an autopsy would most likely be performed to see if the medical procedure contributed to death. If a 35-year-old woman drops dead, an autopsy might be done to determine the cause of death. In a traffic accident, where the cause of death is most likely trauma, no autopsy would be performed.
This summer I lost my grandmother, my stepfather, and my stepmother. None were autopsied My grandmother and stepfather died in the hospital of the conditions for which they were hospitalized. They were 98 and 82, respectively. My stepmother, who died in her sleep at the age of 62, is merely assumed to have died of a stroke.
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dansemave
12 years ago
Very informative post.
I'm sorry for your losses. That must have been very hard.
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