Request By:
Mrs. Norma C. Miller
Secretary
Justice Cabinet
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Opinion
Opinion By: David L. Armstrong, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
You have written that the Justice Cabinet is responsible for administering the State Medical Examiners Program. That program assists the coroners, elected constitutional officers, in conducting death investigations. See KRS 72.400.
KRS 72.025 lists seventeen different circumstances requiring a postmortem examination. A "postmortem examination" is defined in KRS 72.405(4):
"(4) 'Postmortem examination' means a physical examination of the body by a medical examiner or by a coroner or deputy coroner who has been certified by the department of justice and may include an autopsy performed by a pathologist or other appropriate scientific tests administered to determine cause of death."
The term "certified coroner or deputy coroner" is defined in KRS 72.405(5):
"(5) 'Certified coroner or certified deputy coroner' means a coroner or deputy coroner who has been certified by the department of justice to have successfully completed both the basic training course and annual inservice training course required by KRS 72.415, except that a deputy coroner shall be certified without completion of training courses required by KRS 72.415 if he is a licensed physician. The secretary of justice may waive the requirement for basic training and certify a coroner during the eighteen (18) month period after July 15, 1982 if the advisory commission set forth in KRS 72.225 certifies to the secretary after a thorough review that the experience and knowledge of the specific coroner is such that he is qualified to be a certified coroner without taking the basic training. "
As you point out, the definition of "postmortem examination" requires that a physical examination of the body be conducted by a medical examiner or by a coroner or deputy coroner who has been certified by the Department of Justice. The definition of "certified coroner or certified deputy coroner" requires that the coroner or deputy coroner successfully complete both the basic training course and the annual inservice training course required by KRS 72.415. Only a licensed physician who serves as a deputy coroner is exempted from the training.
The basic training course was described by you as follows:
"The basic training course consists of Kentucky coroner and medical examiner laws, the role of coroners in mass disasters, forensic anthropology, how to conduct an inquest, forensic toxicology, how to conduct a death scene investigation, investigation of vehicular deaths, forensic odontology, investigation of natural and traumatic causes of death, rules of evidence, search and seizure laws, firearms identification including ballistics, crime laboratory services, press relations, courtroom preparation, and liability issues. These courses are not in the regular medical school curriculum, and a licensed physician does not receive this training unless he is a forensic pathologist."
Your question is whether or not an uncertified coroner can conduct a postmortem examination, as defined by KRS 72.025?
As you know, the central role of the coroner has always been to aid in the administration of criminal justice by inquiring into the circumstances of violent or suspicious deaths. The object of an inquest has been and is now to obtain information as to whether death was caused by some criminal act.
City of Ashland v. Miller, Ky., 283 S.W.2d 195 (1955) 196. A "coroner's case" is defined in KRS 72.405(2) as a case in which the coroner has reasonable cause for believing that the death of a human being within his county was caused by any of the conditions set forth in KRS 72.025 (circumstances requiring postmortem examination) . An "inquest" is defined by KRS 72.405(3) as an examination ordered by the coroner, or in his absence, ordered by a deputy coroner, into the causes and circumstances of "any death which is a coroner's case" by a jury of six (6) residents of the county impaneled and selected by the coroner to assist him in ascertaining the cause and manner of death. (Emphasis added). Under KRS 72.420, a coroner, may, in his sound discretion, order an inquest in any coroner's case. It clearly emerges that the conducting of a postmortem examination is mandatory where the circumstances fall into one of the seventeen categories of circumstances enumerated in KRS 72.025.
The subjects contained in the basic training course for the coroners and their deputies, which you mentioned in detail, readily attest to their being designed to enable the coroners and deputy coroners to better carry out their function of conducting postmortem examinations, where a coroner, or deputy coroner in the coroner's absence, decides to conduct the examination, himself.
CONCLUSIONS
(1) It is our opinion that, generally under the clear language of KRS 72.405(4) and (5), no coroner can personally conduct a postmortem, as required by KRS 72.025, where such coroner has not been certified by the Department of Justice.
(2) Now concerning the exception to the certification of the coroner or deputy, under KRS 72.415(2), a deputy coroner is exempted from the basic and annual training courses if such deputy is a licensed physician. See also KRS 72.405(5), to the same effect. As relates to a coroner, however, KRS 72.405(5) provides that the Secretary of Justice may waive the requirement for basic training and certify a coroner during the eighteen (18) month period after July 15, 1982, if the advisory commission set forth in KRS 72.225 certifies to the Secretary after a thorough review that the experience and knowledge of the specific coroner is such that he is qualified to be a certified coroner without taking the basic training.
(3) Section 100 of the Kentucky Constitution provides certain qualifications for coroners, inter alia; and the rule is well established that the legislature cannot impose additional qualifications where the constitution enumerates certain qualifications for a constitutional office (see §§ 99 and 100, Kentucky Constitution). See also