Coroner vs. Medical Examiner?

Question

Ok I have always wanted to be a coroner I know weird but anyways I was told that a coroner does the autopsies and that is what I want to do but some else told me it was a medical examiner that does that and now I am a bit confused and I want to get it right so I take the right things in college to do what I want to do in life. I would be happy if some one could explain the difference and things like that.

Stefani

Answer 1

A coroner is an elected official just like a sheriff or a mayor who wins majority vote through a campaign and holds official office.  A coroner conducts inquests and decides if a death is suspicious enough to become a coroners case to rule out homicide vs natural causes. Most of the time these people have a medical background but not always.  A medical examiner is a medical doctor(MD or DO) who performs autopsies based on the coroners recomendation to proceed with a case.