Coroner biz not covered on CSI

“We can’t make everyone happy, and I guess I really don’t want to”, said the Coroner to his Administrative Assistant. [So that I don’t sound so heartless, and example of this would be proof that the perpetrator did it and there are a legion of other examples]

Busy day today: case conferences all morning (our new inquest analog) and a meeting with local DEA folks about cases and working with them on those and others. Also, an undercurrent of unresolved issues: local police department not happy with us despite the fact that they didn’t request an autopsy for nearly 48 hours and we had released the body; another police force elsewhere to whom we had pointed out “the error of their ways”; and other stuff.

There is always “other stuff”. There are no typical days. Doing the coroner's job isn’t nearly as difficult as taking care of the “other stuff”.

Can’t make everyone happy and I probably won’t.

On another note:

I am often asked about “unusual cases/deaths” when I give talks about the coroner’s biz and I ran across one today. In reviewing a case from 1999, it proved to be unusual. It was the case of a woman riding in the backseat of an auto. Another car struck a deer throwing it into the car where the woman was a passenger. The deer kicked the woman in the head, which ultimately resulted in her death.

People die from a variety of causes and there is a different story with each of them.