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Pursuant to the provisions of Section 8.08 of the Rensselaer County Charter and
Section 400 Article 17-A of the County Law of the State of New York, the Medical
Examiner program is administered by the Department of Health. The general duties
of the Office of the Medical Examiner are to investigate the death of every person
dying within the county, or whose body is found within the county, which appears
to be:
(a) A violent death, whether by criminal violence, suicide or casualty;
(b) A death caused by unlawful act or criminal neglect;
(c) A death occurring in a suspicious, unusual or unexplained manner;
(d) A death caused by suspected criminal abortion;
(e) A death while unattended by a physician, so far as can be discovered, or
where no physician able to certify the cause of death as provided in public
health law and in form as prescribed by the commissioner of health can be found;
(f) A death of a person confined in a public institution other than a hospital,
infirmary or nursing home."
The office of the Medical Examiner has a chief Medical Examiner who is certified
as a forensic pathologist performing all necessary autopsies. The program has
Medico-Legal Death Investigators (MLDI’s) that are on call twenty-four
hours a day, seven days a week, three hundred sixty-five days a year, and work
under the general direction of the Medical Examiner during an investigation.
The MLDI’s perform documentation, arrange for transport of the deceased
for autopsy, obtain medical records as indicated, contact primary care providers
and family of the deceased, and secure the scene in conjunction with the law
enforcement agency having jurisdiction. The MLDI’s respond to the scene
of the death as quickly as possible.
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