10 QUESTIONS
Call the coroner Lindsey Thomas, MD Dr. Thomas is a board-certified forensic pathologist and an assistant medical examiner in the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office, serving Hennepin, Dakota, and Scott counties. What is the difference between a medical examiner and a coroner? Historically, coroners originated in England as “crowners,” representatives of the Crown. Their job was to investigate sudden deaths in hopes of generating revenue for the Crown. This institution was brought to the New World but in the early twentieth century, some jurisdictions realized the value of having a medical person involved in death investigation, rather than a politician. This was the creation of the office of the medical examiner. Both medical examiners and coroners perform medicolegal death investigations. In Minnesota, a coroner must be a physician and may be either appointed or elected. A medical examiner must be a forensic pathologist who is appointed by the county board of commissioners. Forensic pathologists are doctors who are specially trained in medicolegal death investigation. However, these terms are used in different ways in other states. What kind of medical training is required to become a medical examiner and how does your training in forensic pathology help you? To become a medical examiner a person needs to earn a bachelor’s degree and a medical degree (MD or DO), and then obtain specialized training through a residency in pathology, plus additional specialized training obtained through a fellowship in forensic pathology. Pathology is the study of disease while forensic pathology is the specialty that concentrates on legal aspects of medicine, disease, and injury. Training in forensic pathology teaches us to keep an open mind, think critically about all aspects of a death investigation, and reach conclusions only after careful consideration. How did you become interested in this specialty? In medical school, I realized I had the wrong personality for clinical practice. So I chose pathology and found that what I enjoyed most were autopsies. I still find autopsies fascinating. Every person is different, and even after thousands of cases, every week or so I see something I have never seen before. The ways in which the human body can be diseased or injured are almost infinite. When I moved to Minnesota I already was trained in pathology and met Hennepin County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Garry Peterson, who encouraged me to do a fellowship in forensic pathology. I feel incredibly lucky to have found a career that I love and that is so rewarding and meaningful.
Photo credit: Bruce Silcox
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MINNESOTA HEALTH CARE NEWS MARCH 2013
You co-authored the book “Protecting the Right to be Free from Arbitrary Killing through an Adequate Autopsy and Investigation into Cause of Death.” Please tell us more. I first met Dr. Peterson through a Minnesota International Human Rights Committee (now known as The Advocates) project to write an autopsy protocol that could be used internationally where suspicious deaths occurred. This protocol was ultimately published by the United Nations and has been used around the world. There were many terrific, passionate advocates for human rights involved in this project.