American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators
The American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators (ABMDI) is an independent not-for-profit certification board based in Baltimore, MD that works to encourage and enhance professional standards among medicolegal death investigators (individuals involved in establishing the cause of death and the identification of the deceased). History. The American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators (ABMDI) was founded in February 1998, following research by the Chief Medical Examiner of Milwaukee, Dr Jeffrey Jantzen, which revealed a lack of regulation in the skills needed for medicolegal death investigations. No particular education was required to practice as  a death investigator, and training was provided 'on the job'. The ABMDI was therefore established to test and certify medicolegal death investigators on a national level. Mission. The purpose of the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators is as follows: Certification Process. The Registry Certification (Basic) is the initial certification that provides official recognition that an individual has acquired basic knowledge and demonstrated proficiency in the standards of practice necessary to properly conduct a competent, thorough medicolegal death investigation. Eligibility. Currently, the ABMDI does not endorse any program that claims to fulfill the requirements of certification or prepare an individual  for the certification exam. Examination. The present examination for the ABMDI consists of a 240 multiple choice examination covering the following eight sections: Current work. A main part of ABMDI's work is the certification examination; after this initial certification, continued training and education is required for recertification. As of 2007, there were approximately 800 ABMDI-registered death investigators.