Frank Cooke
- Democratic
- Representative
- District 16
Primary
This is a housekeeping bill to remove outdated references to the term “coroner” in the Delaware Code. Created in 1682, the Office of the Coroner was one of the earliest elective offices in Delaware. The primary responsibility of the coroner was to investigate all cases in which a person died while in prison, was killed, died an unnatural death, or the circumstances of the death were unknown. It was also the duty of the coroner to arrest a person believed to have committed murder or manslaughter and to perform the duties of the sheriff when the sheriff was unavailable. The Office of the Coroner was abolished in 1969 and the responsibility for determining the cause of death is now the responsibility of the Medical Examiner. Today, it is outside the Medical Examiner’s scope of employment to perform many of the job duties that coroners were historically expected to do, and this bill clarifies that Medical Examiners are only responsible for investigating causes of death throughout the State under the provisions of Chapter 47 of Title 29, relating to forensic science.
Signed by Governor
Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES
Reported Out of Committee (Corrections & Public Safety) in Senate with 4 On Its Merits
Assigned to Corrections & Public Safety Committee in Senate
Passed By House. Votes: 37 YES 4 ABSENT
Reported Out of Committee (Public Safety & Homeland Security) in House with 7 Favorable
Introduced and Assigned to Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee in House
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