Medical Examiner Homepage
Mission Statement
A regional forensic medicine center, striving for continued excellence in providing compassionate, scientific, and professional services in the investigation of unexpected death.
Location and Contact Information
Medical Examiner's Office
5901 N Lidgerwood St, Suite 24B
Spokane, WA 99208-1126
Phone: (509) 477-2296
Fax: (509) 477-6327
E-mail Form: Contact Us
Maps and Directions
Name Accreditation
The Spokane County Medical Examiner's Office achieved the distinction of Accreditation by the National Association of Medical Examiners in April, 2004. The National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME) is the national professional organization of forensic pathologists, physician medical examiners, medical death investigators, death investigation system administrators, and consultants who perform the official duties of medicolegal investigation of deaths of public interest in the United States. Most members work as Medical Examiners or Coroners. Accreditation is a rigorous process, and requires a lengthy inspection by an independent Medical Examiner appointed by the organization. The accreditation requirements are 28 pages long, and include an estimated 300 items covering things such as how specimens are labeled, and the qualifications of staff members. Currently there are less than 50 accredited Medical Examiner / Coroner Offices in the United States. In Washington State, the Pierce County and King County Medical Examiner's Offices are also accredited. The Spokane County Medical Examiner's Office is accredited for a 5-year period, until 2009.
Responsibilities of a Medical Examiner System
- Determine the cause and manner of death
(Manner of death is one of 5 categories on a death certificate. Homicide, suicide, natural, accident and undetermined. Undetermined is used when the category is unknown or two categories can't be distinguished.)
- Perform investigations at the scene of death
- Identify the dead with a high degree of certainty using scientific forensic methods
- Identify and collect evidence properly
- Provide expert legal testimony in criminal and civil matters
- Recognize unsuspected homicides
- Exonerate the innocent
- Recognize dangerous features of consumer products and report those to federal government
- Treat grieving family members with compassion
- Prepare and plan for mass casualty incidents.
- Insure the integrity, to the best of our ability, of the personal property of decedents.
- Provide for disposition of unclaimed, indigent citizens, according to state law
- Sign death certificate in all cases of unnatural death, and many cases of natural death