This paper reports on a research study examining the state of technology access in medical examiner and coroners’ offices, and shows that, nationwide, MEC offices lack advanced imaging technology and face implementation challenges for current and emerging technologies that could improve effectiveness, speed, or accuracy of death investigations.
Technology uses among medical examiner and coroner (MEC) offices in the United States are not well characterized, yet technology is essential to job-performing duties. Resources, operational infrastructure, and MECs' policies and procedures that affect technology use should be better understood. MEC offices need access to technologies like internet, case management systems (CMSs), databases, and advanced imaging to perform their basic duties. A current state of the technologies MEC offices use to complete a death investigation is presented by analyzing data from the 2018 Census of Medical Examiner and Coroner Offices. This analysis shows the New England division reported the most internet and CMS access. Many offices reported limited access to, and low participation in, databases for assessing and sharing case data. Offices serving populations greater than 250,000 have more access to the internet, CMSs, databases, and advanced imaging. Although MEC office technology use has improved over time, it is still disparate. (Published Abstract Provided)