Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement  show

Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement

Summary: We are a community of professionals in the field of death investigation. Whether you’re a coroner, a member of local police or county law enforcement, an EMS professional, or medical examiner – or frankly, anyone in between, Coroner Talk™ is the right community for you. We provide training and resources to coroners and death investigators by and from professionals around the world, a peer to peer training environment. I recognized that the training available for coroners and small department investigators was limited by resources such as time away from department and expense. So, I developed Coroner Talk™. Darren is a 30 year veteran of law enforcement and criminal investigations. He currently serves as an investigator for the Crawford County Missouri coroner’s office. He holds credentials as an instructor for the Missouri Sheriff’s Training Academy (MSA), Law Enforcement Training Institute (LETI). American College of Forensic Examiners Institute (ACFEI) has served as president of the Missouri Medical Examiners and Coroners Association, and is certified and credentialed in numerous fields of investigation. He holds the position of lead instructor and facilitator for the Death Investigation Training Academy (DITA) and for the Coroner Talk™ community as he speaks and writes in the area of death investigation and scene management.

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 Qualifications For a Death Investigator – No Consistency - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 35:32

OVERVIEW OF THE MEDICOLEGAL DEATH INVESTIGATION SYSTEM IN THE UNITED STATES Randy Hanzlick The medicolegal death investigation system is responsible for conducting death investigations and certifying the cause and manner of unnatural and unexplained deaths. Unnatural and unexplained deaths include homicides, suicides, unintentional injuries, drug-related deaths, and other deaths that are sudden or unexpected. Approximately 20% of the 2.4 million deaths in the US each year are investigated by medical examiners and coroners, accounting for approximately 450,000 medicolegal death investigations annually. Death investigations carry broad societal importance for criminal justice and public health. Death investigations provide evidence to convict the guilty and protect the innocent, whether they are accused of murder, child maltreatment, neglect, or other crimes. Death investigations aid civil litigation, such as in malpractice, personal injury, or life insurance claims. Death investigations are critical for many aspects of public health practice and research, including surveillance, epidemiology, and prevention programs, most often in injury prevention and control but also in prevention of suicide, violence, or substance abuse. And death investigations are emerging as critically important in evaluating the quality of health care and the nation’s response to bioterrorism. The term medicolegal death investigation system is something of a misnomer. It is an umbrella term for a patchwork of highly varied state and local systems for investigating deaths. Death investigations are carried out by coroners or medical examiners. Their role is to decide the scope and course of a death investigation. Qualifications For a Death Investigator – No Consistency The quality of a death investigation system is difficult to assess, but it can be measured with several indicators. One is accreditation by NAME, the professional organization of physician medical examiners. Only 42 of the nation’s medical examiner offices, serving 23% of the population have been accredited by NAME in recent years. Most of the population (77%) are served by offices lacking accreditation. Another indicator of quality is statutory requirements for training: about 36% of the US population lives where minimal or no special training is required of those responsible for death investigations (Hanzlick, 1996). In Georgia, for example, the typical requirements for serving as a coroner are being a registered voter at least 25 years old, not having any felony convictions, having a high-school diploma or the equivalent, and receiving annual training of 1 week. Funding levels also vary greatly. County systems range from $0.62 to $5.54 per capita, with a mean of $2.6 per capita. Statewide systems are generally funded at lower levels: $0.32-$3.20 per capita, with a mean of $1.41 per capita. Third-party payers generally do not support the costs of operations, nor are there medical billing systems. Funding is almost exclusively from tax revenues. Because of insufficient funding, salaries of medical examiners are much lower than those of other physicians. Lower salaries lead to difficulty in recruiting and retaining skilled personnel. Article Credit: Overview of the Medicolegal Death Investigation System in the United States.” Institute of Medicine. Medicolegal Death Investigation System: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10792. What are your thoughts? How do you see the current training and requirements for entry level MDI’s  .  Post your comments below. Site tags coroner,police training, darren dake,sheriff,deputy,coroner association,murder scenes,auto fatalities,csi,first responders,

 Euthanasia in America - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1:17:25

Euthanasia, also known as assisted suicide, physician-assisted suicide (dying), doctor-assisted dying (suicide), and more loosely termed mercy killing, means to take a deliberate action with the express intention of ending a life to relieve intractable (persistent, unstoppable) suffering. Some interpret euthanasia as the practice of ending a life in a painless manner. Many disagree with this interpretation, because it needs to include a reference to intractable suffering. In the majority of countries euthanasia or assisted suicide is against the law. According to the National Health Service (NHS), UK, it is illegal to help somebody kill themselves, regardless of circumstances. Assisted suicide, or voluntary euthanasia carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison in the UK. In the USA the law varies in some states (see further down). Euthanasia Classifications There are two main classifications of euthanasia: Get to Know What Psoriatic Arthritis Is * Voluntary euthanasia – this is euthanasia conducted with consent. Since 2009 voluntary euthanasia has been legal in Belgium, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Switzerland, and the states of Oregon (USA) and Washington (USA). * Involuntary euthanasia – euthanasia is conducted without consent. The decision is made by another person because the patient is incapable to doing so himself/herself. There are two procedural classifications of euthanasia: * Passive euthanasia – this is when life-sustaining treatments are withheld. The definition of passive euthanasia is often not clear cut. For example, if a doctor prescribes increasing doses of opioid analgesia (strong painkilling medications) which may eventually be toxic for the patient, some may argue whether passive euthanasia is taking place – in most cases, the doctor’s measure is seen as a passive one. Many claim that the term is wrong, because euthanasia has not taken place, because there is no intention to take life. * Active euthanasia – lethal substances or forces are used to end the patient’s life. Active euthanasia includes life-ending actions conducted by the patient or somebody else. Active euthanasia is a much more controversial subject than passive euthanasia. Individuals are torn by religious, moral, ethical and compassionate arguments surrounding the issue. Euthanasia has been a very controversial and emotive topic for a long time. The term assisted suicide has several different interpretations. Perhaps the most widely used and accepted is “the intentional hastening of death by a terminally ill patient with assistance from a doctor, relative, or another person.” Some people will insist that something along the lines of “in order relieve intractable (persistent, unstoppable) suffering” needs to be added to the meaning, while others insist that “terminally ill patient” already includes that meaning. Portion of article by Written by Christian Nordqvist Fri 8 April 2016 http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/182951.php  In this episode: Euthanasia in America In this weeks show at talk with Anita Brooks and Shawn Parcells in a panel discussion around this topic of Euthanasia in America.  We discuss the legal, medical, and ethical issues surrounding the decisions of euthanasia  We also discuss the responsibility of  investigators concerning knowledge of euthanasia in a death. site tags coroner,police training, darren dake,sheriff,deputy,coroner association,murder scenes,auto fatalities,csi,first responders,autoerotic fatalities,become a coroner,

 Medicolegal Death Investigations – Dr. Mary Dudley - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 56:50

  The role of the medicolegal death investigator is to investigate any death that falls under the jurisdiction of the medical examiner or coroner, including all suspicious, violent, unexplained and unexpected deaths. A death investigation is a process whereby a coroner or forensic pathologist seeks to understand how and why a person died. A coroner or forensic pathologist must answer five questions when investigating a death: Who (identity of the deceased) When (date of death) Where (location of death) How (medical cause of death) By what means (natural causes, accident, homicide, suicide or undetermined) Information may be obtained from several sources including, but not limited to family, co-workers, neighbors, doctors, hospital records, police and other emergency service workers. Contact with family is vital as they often have important information that can aid the investigation. In This Episode – Medicolegal Death Investigations In this episode I talk with Dr Mary Dudley about the field of Medicolegal Death Investigations and where the field  is progressing.  We discuss  some ‘best practices’ and obstacles faced by medicolegal death investigators  across the country, as well as what new and up coming investigators need to do to have a better chance of entering the field. Mary H. Dudley, MD, is the chief medical examiner (retired 2015)  for Jackson County in Kansas City, MO. She is board certified in Anatomic and Forensic Pathology by the American Board of Pathology. She completed a two-year fellowship in Forensic Pathology at the University of New Mexico following a four-year Anatomic and Clinical Pathology residency at Penrose Hospital in Colorado Springs. She has a diploma, BS, and MS in nursing and also founded the first forensic nursing certificate program in the United States in 1994. Dr. Dudley originated the first Forensic Medical Investigation course in the United States in 1996. Dr. Dudley is a Board Member of the National Association of Medical Examiners, Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Science, co-chair of the Medical Examiner Advisory Board of Musculotissue Foundation, member of the Missouri Child Fatality Review Board, and member of the National Disaster Medical Systems (Disaster Mortuary Operations Response Team). She is also an Associate Professor of Clinical Pathology – University of Missouri-Kansas City and on the teaching faculty at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs and Metropolitan Community College-Penn Valley Campus in Kansas City, Missouri, USA.   Click Image to learn more or to purchase  Features * Includes an extensive section on injury recognition covering blunt, sharp, and patterned injury, forensic odontology, gunshot wounds, and craniocerebral injury * Covers all the essential aspects relating to death investigations as well as investigations involving abuse and injury * Illustrates concepts with graphic images throughout Summary Introducing the basic concepts of clinical forensic medicine and death investigation, this book covers the main areas of forensic investigation . It provides an introduction to forensic science and coverage of injury patterns, natural disease, accidental trauma, child injury and fatalities, and domestic violence. Anyone who has direct contact with death, crime, and the medicolegal system, including nurses, physicians, attorneys, death investigators, forensic pathologists, and police detectives, will find this an invaluable reference.

 Medical Error – Case Reviews - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1:00:51

This Episode is part 2 of last weeks conversation about medical errors being the third leading cause of death in the United States. This week I set down with medical expert  Shawn Parcells of National Autopsy Serivices and discussed  a few actualcases concerning medical errors. Medical error has been defined as an unintended act (either of omission or commission) or one that does not achieve its intended outcome,3 the failure of a planned action to be completed as intended (an error of execution), the use of a wrong plan to achieve an aim (an error of planning),4 or a deviation from the process of care that may or may not cause harm to the patient.5 Patient harm from medical error can occur at the individual or system level. The taxonomy of errors is expanding to better categorize preventable factors and events.6 We focus on preventable lethal events to highlight the scale of potential for improvement.   (bmj.com article portion) Medical error is the third leading cause of death in the United States, after heart disease and cancer, according to findings published today in British Medical Journal.As such, medical errors should be a top priority for research and resources, say authors Martin Makary, MD, MPH, professor of surgery, and research fellow Michael Daniel, from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. But accurate, transparent information about errors is not captured on death certificates, which are the documents the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) uses for ranking causes of death and setting health priorities. Death certificates depend on International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes for cause of death, so causes such as human and system errors are not recorded on them. And it’s not just the US. According to the World Health Organization, 117 countries code their mortality statistics using the ICD system as the primary health status indicator. The authors call for better reporting to help capture the scale of the problem and create strategies for reducing it. Cancer and Heart Disease Get the Attention “Top-ranked causes of death as reported by the CDC inform our country’s research funding and public health priorities,” Dr Makary said in an university press release. “Right now, cancer and heart disease get a ton of attention, but since medical errors don’t appear on the list, the problem doesn’t get the funding and attention it deserves.” He adds: “Incidence rates for deaths directly attributable to medical care gone awry haven’t been recognized in any standardized method for collecting national statistics. The medical coding system was designed to maximize billing for physician services, not to collect national health statistics, as it is currently being used.” The researchers examined four studies that analyzed medical death rate data from 2000 to 2008. Then, using hospital admission rates from 2013, they extrapolated that, based on 35,416,020 hospitalizations, 251,454 deaths stemmed from a medical error. That number of deaths translates to 9.5% of all deaths each year in the US — and puts medical error above the previous third-leading cause, respiratory disease. In 2013, 611,105 people died of heart disease, 584,881 died of cancer, and 149,205 died of chronic respiratory disease, according to the CDC. The new estimates are considerably higher than those in the 1999 Institute of Medicine report “To Err Is Human.” However, the authors note that the data used for that report “is limited and outdated.

 Medical Errors – Third Leading Cause of Death in USA - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 50:36

Medical error has been defined as an unintended act (either of omission or commission) or one that does not achieve its intended outcome,3 the failure of a planned action to be completed as intended (an error of execution), the use of a wrong plan to achieve an aim (an error of planning),4 or a deviation from the process of care that may or may not cause harm to the patient.5 Patient harm from medical error can occur at the individual or system level. The taxonomy of errors is expanding to better categorize preventable factors and events.6 We focus on preventable lethal events to highlight the scale of potential for improvement.   (bmj.com article portion) Medical error is the third leading cause of death in the United States, after heart disease and cancer, according to findings published today in British Medical Journal.As such, medical errors should be a top priority for research and resources, say authors Martin Makary, MD, MPH, professor of surgery, and research fellow Michael Daniel, from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. But accurate, transparent information about errors is not captured on death certificates, which are the documents the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) uses for ranking causes of death and setting health priorities. Death certificates depend on International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes for cause of death, so causes such as human and system errors are not recorded on them. And it’s not just the US. According to the World Health Organization, 117 countries code their mortality statistics using the ICD system as the primary health status indicator. The authors call for better reporting to help capture the scale of the problem and create strategies for reducing it. Cancer and Heart Disease Get the Attention “Top-ranked causes of death as reported by the CDC inform our country’s research funding and public health priorities,” Dr Makary said in an university press release. “Right now, cancer and heart disease get a ton of attention, but since medical errors don’t appear on the list, the problem doesn’t get the funding and attention it deserves.” He adds: “Incidence rates for deaths directly attributable to medical care gone awry haven’t been recognized in any standardized method for collecting national statistics. The medical coding system was designed to maximize billing for physician services, not to collect national health statistics, as it is currently being used.” The researchers examined four studies that analyzed medical death rate data from 2000 to 2008. Then, using hospital admission rates from 2013, they extrapolated that, based on 35,416,020 hospitalizations, 251,454 deaths stemmed from a medical error. That number of deaths translates to 9.5% of all deaths each year in the US — and puts medical error above the previous third-leading cause, respiratory disease. In 2013, 611,105 people died of heart disease, 584,881 died of cancer, and 149,205 died of chronic respiratory disease, according to the CDC. The new estimates are considerably higher than those in the 1999 Institute of Medicine report “To Err Is Human.” However, the authors note that the data used for that report “is limited and outdated.” Strategies for Change The authors suggest several changes, including making errors more visible so their effects can be understood. Often, discussions about prevention occur in limited and confidential forums, such as a department’s morbidity and mortalit...

 Conflict in the work place – “Sometimes it’s like we are babysitters” - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 56:22

Conflict in the work place – “Sometimes it’s like we are babysitters” - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement

 Las Vegas Coroner – John Fudenberg - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 53:19

Las Vegas Coroner – John Fudenberg - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement

 From a Mother – When my Child Died - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 33:20

From a Mother – When my Child Died - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement

 Nursing Home Deaths | Are we missing anything? - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1:01:42

Nursing Home Deaths | Are we missing anything? - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement

 Violent Crime Increase | Serial Killers - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1:15:14

Violent Crime Increase | Serial Killers - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement

 Identifying Evidence in Infant Deaths - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 30:22

Identifying Evidence in Infant Deaths - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement

 Tool and impression evidence - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 52:37

Tool and impression evidence - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement

 Code of Silence - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 52:07

Code of Silence - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement

 Overcoming the ‘Good Ol’ Boys Club’ - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1:17:02

Overcoming the ‘Good Ol’ Boys Club’ - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement

 Part 2 – Cultural Diversity and Anger De-escalation - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 49:02

Part 2 – Cultural Diversity and Anger De-escalation - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement

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