Forensic pathology--a different perspective: investigative medicolegal systems in the United States

The author's experience and impressions of the proceedings of the Office of the Medical Examiner, Cook County, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America are discussed. This experience demonstrates the limitations of the South African medicolegal system, particularly its lack of credibility among the greater proportion of the community. The medical examiner's office in the United States, being independent, enjoys credibility and the confidence of the community at large and of the courts, without alienating the police or other law enforcement agencies. These organizations feature in the medical examiner system by courtesy of the chief medical examiner. In the United States two types of investigative medicolegal systems coexist, sometimes in the same state or adjacent country: the coroner system (unlike the English coroner system) and the medical examiner system. Of the two, the coroner system is the older, is not always headed by a medically trained person, and is a political appointment. This system has been accused of lacking autonomy and scientific objectivity.