It's a new day. Decades have passed and we need to look at the system. North Carolina's statewide use of medical examiners, established in the late 1960s, has drawn national acclaim. The system is staffed by many doctors who do the work to serve their communities and is anchored by some highly respected forensic pathologists. But some prosecutors, police, families and the state's own medical examiners say fixes are needed in a system that breaks down in dangerous places.
Some medical examiners order autopsies infrequently, even in suspicious deaths.
Statewide from 1993 to 1998, medical examiners did not order autopsies in almost 70 percent of accidental deaths. No autopsies were performed in 66 percent of suicides and 41 percent of fire-related deaths, even though crimes can be covered up. Even when medical examiners opt for autopsies, some send cases to pathologists trained in the study of natural death, not violent death. Autopsies help pinpoint the cause of death and reveal foul play. But he says as North Carolina grows and becomes more urban, the state must find new ways to investigate deaths.