Coroners are associated with local courts, and they have responsibility for investigating the circumstances surrounding particular kinds of deaths. In some cases an autopsy will be necessary to determine the cause of death and this is conducted at the morgue associated with the local court.
Coroners are required to investigate deaths that were violent, unnatural, or sudden and with unknown cause. If the dead person had not been seen by a doctor within three months before death, or the doctor could not determine the cause of death, the death must also be referred to the coroner. Coroners also investigate deaths where the person has died within 24 hours of an anaesthetic or has died within a year of an accident that might have caused the death. Deaths must be reported to a Coroner if they occur while the person lived an institution such as a hospital, residential centre, welfare facility, residential child care centre or a detention centre.
If an autopsy is required, all parts of the body are inspected to identify any disease or damage. Discrete incisions are made so that the abdominal, thoracic and cranial cavities can be inspected, including the removal and replacement of all the body's organs. Some organs may need to be held for several months to allow detailed investigations, but the body will be returned for disposal in the meantime. Small tissue samples are usually retained permanently in the event that new technologies can elucidate conditions that could not be identified at the time of the inquiry.
When the Coroner has finished his/her inquiry, the body is returned for disposal, and the Coroner certifies the death with or without a determined cause. In the case of cremation, the Coroner will provide the cremation permit. More detailed explanation of the Coronial process can be found in: Rest Assured: A legal guide to wills, estates and funerals. Redfern Legal Centre. 3rd edition 1999.
Copyright © Australian Museum, 2008
