Death Investigations in Canada
by yaazhini V
1. ⦁ Designed to focus on public attention on the circumstances throguh a careful exmaintion of facts ⦁ A five-person jury makes useful recommendations that may prevent deaths in similar circumstances
1.1. The Three Types of Inquests: ⦁ Mandatory required by the law ⦁ Discretioanry ⦁ Upon Request
2. Where a coroner is informed of a sudden death under their jurisdiction, the coroner shall issue a warrant to take possession of the body and procced to examine the body
3. Coroners are called to investigate sudden deaths; mandated by the Coroner's Act. ⦁ Coroners investigate mostly non-criminal deaths ⦁ Police investigates homicides and criminally - suspicious deaths ⦁ Joint Investigations occur while involving fire deaths, aviation disaster
3.1. The types of deaths that must be reported to the Coroner: ⦁ Deaths at a construction or mining site ⦁ Deaths that occur suddenly and unexpectedly ⦁ Deaths while in police custody or while a person is incarcerated in a correctional facility ⦁ Deaths when the use of force by a police officer, special constable, auxiallry member of a plice force or First Nations constable is the cause of death ⦁ Deaths that appear to be the result of an accident, suicide or homicide
4. Types of deaths are classified as
5. ⦁ Dissection removal of all internal organs ⦁ Microscopic examinations
6. ⦁ Sex, height, weight, approx. age, hair color, physical condition ⦁ Wounds (contusions, lacerations) ⦁ Puncture and track mark ⦁ Personal identifiers such as tattoos
7. Tissues and organs may be retained for further laboratory testing
8. Photographs of injuries with scales
9. Careful documentation of facts
10. Surgical procedures in order to determine CoD and confirm the MoD
11. External and internal examination
11.1. External examination during an autopsy is a "visual" inspection
11.1.1. Markings on Clothes and skin
11.1.1.1. FDR (Firearm Discharge Residue)
11.1.2. The use of X-Ray imaging
12. Under the regulation 180 of the Coroner's Act, these organs were to undergo disposition on June 14, 2013
13. ⦁ study diseases and injury causing sudden death ⦁ Perform medicolegal or forensic autopsies ⦁ They determine the “Cause of Death” and “manner of death” in death investigations
13.1. Medicolegal Autopsy: A postmortem examination of a human body to address medicolegal questions related to a forensic death investigation
13.1.1. Medicolegal autopsy procedure includes
13.2. Cause of Death (CoD): The underlying medical condition, disease, or injury that begins a lethal chain of events resulting in death (Eg: a stroke causing heart failure)
13.2.1. Aim: How did the person die? FInd the medical cause of death ⦁ Overdose ⦁ Mixed drug toxicity? ⦁ Blunt Force injury?
13.3. Manner of Death (MoD): the way in which a death occurs, which may be Homicide, Suicide, Accidental, Natural or Undetermined
13.3.1. Aim: By what means did the person die? Document most likely means of death ⦁ Homicide ⦁ Suicide ⦁ Accidental ⦁ Natural ⦁ Undetermined Suicide?