terest in the estate of the deceased person” (AS 12.65.020 1).
The medical examiner’s office is also responsible for issuing a certificate of death for the deceased individual. It is on the advice of the medical examiner that the state, county or city many determine a death inquest is warranted. In these cases the medical examiner may work closely with public employees and law enforcement agencies in the performing of his or her duties. Medical examiners are exempt from civil liability where their determination of the cause and manner of an individual’s death is concerned. Forensic science is one of the medical examiner’s chief preoccupations, a science that includes the systematic examination of the corpse of the deceased-the autopsy. Extensive autopsies are normally performed in cases where criminal means of death is suspected. The medical examiner not only utilizes extensive forensic information gathered at the scene of
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