Priority Action Report

Medicolegal Death Investigation 

Crime Scene/Death Investigation SAC

John Fudenberg

Jan 29,2016
Subcommittee Leadership

Position Name Organization Term Email

Chair John 

Fudenberg

Clark County Office 

of the 

Coroner/Medical 

Examiner

2 yrs

(Oct 

2016)

fud@clarkcountynv.gov

Vice 

Chair

Keith 

Pinckard

Travis County 

Medical Examiner’s 

Office

4 yrs

(Oct 

2018)

drkpinckard@yahoo.com

Executive 

Secretary

Laura 

Crandall

NYU School of 

Medicine, The 

SUDC Foundation

3 yrs

(Oct 

2017)

Laura.crandall@nyumc.org

2
Subcommittee Members

# Name Organization Term Email

1 Matt Lunn Binghamton University 4 (Oct 2018) mlunn@binghamton.edu

2 William Oliver Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University 4 (Oct 2018) oliverw@ecu.edu

3

Margaret Warner

Centers for Disease Control, National Center for 

Health Statistics 4 (Oct 2018) mwarner@cdc.gov

4 David Carter Chaminade University of Honolulu 3 (Oct 2017) david.carter@chaminade.edu

5 Stephen Cina Cook County Medical Examiner's Office 2 (Oct 2016) stephen.cina@cookcountyil.gov

6

Julie Howe

Franklin, Jefferson and Saint Charles Counties Medical 

Examiner Offices 3 (Oct 2017) howej@slu.edu

7 Lindsey Thomas Hennepin County 4 (Oct 2018) lindsey.thomas@hennepin.us

8

Tom Hensley

Jackson County Medical Examiners Office - Kansas 

City, MO 3 (Oct 2017) mo_reb@yahoo.com

9 Barbara Sampson New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner 3 (June 2018) bsampson@ocme.nyc.gov

10 Lauri McGivern Office of the Chief Medical Examiner NH 3 (Oct 2017) lauri.mcgivern@state.vt.us

11 David Fowler Office of the Chief Medical Examiner Maryland 4 (Oct 2018) fowlerd@ocmemd.org

12 Kelly Keyes Orange County Sheriff-Coroner 3 (Oct 2017) kakeyes@ocsd.org

13 Gary Watts Richland County 2 (Oct 2016) wattsg@rcgov.us

14 James Gill State of Connecticut 2 (Oct 2016) jgill@ocme.org

15 William Oliver Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University 4 (Oct 2018) oliverw@ecu.edu

3
Discipline Description

The Subcommittee on Medicolegal 

Death Investigation will focus on 

standards and guidelines related to 

deaths reportable to coroners and 

medical examiners including sudden, 

unattended, unexpected, or 

suspicious deaths and deaths due to 

violence (accidents, suicides and 

homicides). This subcommittee will 

also focus on education, research, 

certification, accreditation, systems 

administration, and the value of 

medicolegal death investigation to 

public health. 

4
Summary of Standards/Guidelines 

Priority Actions

Priority Working Title of Document

High 1. Communicating findings, including final cause and 

manner of death and access to autopsy reports, to the next 

of kin of decedents.

High 2. Documentation of Medicolegal Death Investigator 

Findings

High 3. Jurisdictional determination by certified medicolegal 

death investigators

High 4. Collection of blood or other appropriate samples for 

potential genetic testing in sudden, unexplained deaths 

that remain unexplained at the completion of the autopsy.

High 5. Determination of Cause of Death

5
Summary of Standards/Guidelines 

Priority Actions

Priority Working Title of Document

High 6. Evaluation of Circumstances Surrounding Death

High 7. Medical Examiner and Coroner Independence

High 8. Recognition of the NAME Forensic Autopsy Standards as 

the National Practice Model

High 9. Forensic Pathology as the Practice of Medicine

High 10. Medicolegal Death Investigation offices shall 

participate in local or state level child fatality review teams.

6
Planned Actions

OSAC Process 

Stage (e.g., 

SDO 100) 

Assignee Estimated

Completion Date

Submit and receive approval 

from SAC

SDO-100 Will be assigned 

once SAC approval 

obtained

TBA

Priority 1-10: Documents 

7
Existing Documents for Registry Process 

Consideration to Standards/Guidelines 

Priority Actions

Priority Working Title of Document

High 1. Principles for Communicating With Next of Kin 

during Medicolegal Death Investigations- Submit

for Approval

High 2. Recommendations for Certification and 

Training of Medicolegal Death Investigation 

Personnel- Submit for Approval

High 3. SWGMDI’s Standards for Interactions 

Between Medical Examiner/Coroner Offices and 

Organ and Tissue Procurement Organizations and 

Eye Banks- Submit for Approval 8
Standards/Guidelines Reviewed For 

Technical Merit

Title Developing 

Organization Status*

OSAC Process 

Stage (e.g., RA 

100)

None

9
Research Needs Identified

•Assessing the utility of autopsy in contentious 

medicolegal categories of death

•Pediatric Forensic Pathology to improve the 

accuracy of cause and manner of death 

certification

•Death Investigation, workload, mixed methods, 

investigations

•Geographic and Seasonal Variation in 

Postmortem Changes

10
Additional Items of Interest

• Response by MDI Sub-committee regarding Cognitive 

Bias Issues to be shared with Human Factors 

Committee and other interested parties

11
Priority Action Report

Medicolegal Death Investigation 

Crime Scene/Death Investigation SAC

Jan 29,2016
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