The County: The "Dark Continent" of American Politics

[An amendment of the New York City Charter (Chap. 284 Laws of 1915) abolished the elective coroners in the five boroughs and created the office of Chief Medical Examiner. This amendment was prepared by representatives of the principal medical, legal and civic societies in New York City working in conjunction with the Commissioner of Accounts and representatives of the District Attorney’s office. It is believed to embody important standards of organization and procedure in the prosecution of public medico-legal investigations. The provisions of the amendment will go into effect January 1, 1918.]

AN ACT

To amend the Greater New York charter, and repeal certain sections thereof and of chapter four hundred and ten of the laws of eighteen hundred and eighty-two, in relation to the abolition of the office of coroner and the establishment of the office of chief medical examiner.

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

Section 1. The office of coroner in the city of New York shall be abolished on January first, nineteen hundred and eighteen, and after this section takes effect, a vacancy occurring in such an office in any borough shall not be filled unless by reason of the occurrence thereof, there shall be no coroner in office in such borough, in which case the vacancy in such borough last occurring shall be filled for a term to expire on January first, nineteen hundred and eighteen. If, by reason of the provisions of this section, the number of coroners in a borough be reduced, the remaining coroner or coroners in such borough shall have the powers and perform the duties conferred or imposed by law on the board of coroners in such borough.

§ 2. Title four of chapter twenty-three, sections fifteen hundred and seventy and fifteen hundred and seventy-one of the Greater New York charter, as re-enacted by chapter four hundred and sixty-six of the laws of nineteen hundred and one, is hereby repealed, and in its place is inserted a new title to be numbered four and to read as follows:

TITLE IV

Chief Medical Examiner

ORGANIZATION OF OFFICE; OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES

§ 1570. There is hereby established the office of chief medical examiner of the city of New York. The head of the office shall be called the “chief medical examiner.” He shall be appointed by the mayor from the classified service and be a doctor of medicine, and a skilled pathologist and microscopist.

The mayor may remove such officer upon stating in writing his reasons therefor, to be filed in the office of the municipal civil service commission and served upon such officer, and allowing him an opportunity of making a public explanation. The chief medical examiner may appoint and remove such deputies, assistant medical examiners, scientific experts, officers and employees as may be provided for pursuant to law. Such deputy medical examiners, and assistant medical examiners, as may be appointed, shall possess qualifications similar to those required in the appointment of the chief medical examiner. The office shall be kept open every day in the year, including Sundays and legal holidays, with a clerk in constant attendance at all times during the day and night.

VIOLENT AND SUSPICIOUS DEATHS; PROCEDURE

§ 1571. When, in the city of New York, any person shall die from criminal violence, or by a casualty, or by suicide, or suddenly when in apparent health, or when unattended by a physician, or in prison, or in any suspicious or unusual manner, the officer in charge of the station house in the police precinct in which such person died shall immediately notify the office of the chief medical examiner of the known facts concerning the time, place, manner and circumstances of such death. Immediately upon receipt of such notification the chief medical examiner, or a deputy or assistant medical examiner, shall go to the dead body, and take charge of the same. Such examiner shall fully investigate the essential facts concerning the circumstances of the death, taking the names and addresses of as many witnesses thereto as it may be practical to obtain, and, before leaving the premises, shall reduce all such facts to writing and file the same in his office. The police officer so detailed shall, in the absence of the next of kin of deceased person, take possession of all property of value found on such person, make an exact inventory thereof on his report, and deliver such property to the police department, which shall surrender the same to the person entitled to its custody or possession. Such examiner shall take possession of any portable objects which, in his opinion, may be useful in establishing the cause of death, and deliver them to the police department.

Nothing in this section contained shall affect the powers and duties of a public administrator as now provided by law.

AUTOPSIES; FINDINGS

§ 1571-a. If the cause of such death shall be established beyond a reasonable doubt, the medical examiner in charge shall so report to his office. If, however, in the opinion of such medical examiner, an autopsy is necessary, the same shall be performed by a medical examiner. A detailed description of the findings written during the progress of such autopsy and the conclusions drawn therefrom shall thereupon be filed in his office.

REPORT OF DEATHS; REMOVAL OF BODY

§ 1571-b. It shall be the duty of any citizen who may become aware of the death of any such person to report such death forthwith to the office of the chief medical examiner, and to a police officer who shall forthwith notify the officer in charge of the station-house in the police precinct in which such person died. Any person who shall willfully neglect or refuse to report such death or who without written order from a medical examiner shall willfully touch, remove or disturb the body of any such person, or willfully touch, remove, or disturb the clothing, or any article upon or near such body, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

RECORDS

§ 1571-c. It shall be the duty of the office of medical examiner to keep full and complete records. Such records shall be kept in the office, properly indexed, stating the name, if known, of every such person, the place where the body was found and the date of death. To the record of each case shall be attached the original report of the medical examiner and the detailed findings of the autopsy, if any. The office shall promptly deliver to the appropriate district attorney copies of all records relating to every death as to which there is, in the judgment of the medical examiner in charge, any indication of criminality. All other records shall be open to public inspection as provided in section fifteen hundred and forty-five. The appropriate district attorney and the police commissioner of the city may require from such officer such further records, and such daily information, as they may deem necessary.

OATHS AND AFFIDAVITS

§ 1571-d. The chief medical examiner, and all deputy or assistant medical examiners, may administer oaths, and take affidavits, proofs and examinations as to any matter within the jurisdiction of the office.

§ 3. Section eleven hundred and seventy-nine of such charter is hereby amended to read as follows:

BUREAUS

§ 1179. There shall be two bureaus in the department of health. The chief officer of one bureau shall be called the “sanitary superintendent,” who, at the time of his appointment, shall have been, for at least ten years, a practicing physician, and for three years a resident of the city of New York, and he shall be the chief executive officer of said department. The chief officer of the second bureau shall be called the “registrar of records,” and in said bureau shall be recorded, without fees, every birth, marriage, and death, which shall occur within the city of New York.

§ 4. Section twelve hundred and three of such charter is hereby amended to read as follows:

MEDICAL EXAMINERS’ RETURNS

§ 1203. The department of health may, from time to time make rules and regulations fixing the time of rendering, and defining the form of returns and reports to be made to said department by the office of chief medical examiner of the city of New York, in all cases of death which shall be investigated by it; and the office of the chief medical examiner is hereby required to conform to such rules and regulations.

§ 5. Section twelve hundred and thirty-eight of such charter is hereby amended to read as follows:

DEATHS TO BE REPORTED

§ 1238. It shall be the duty of the next of kin of any person deceased, and of each person being with such deceased person at his or her death, to file report in writing, with the department of health within five days after such death, stating the age, color, nativity, last occupation and cause of death of such deceased person, and the borough and street, the place of such person’s death and last residence. Physicians who have attended deceased persons in their last illness shall, in the certificate of the decease of such persons, specify, as near as the same can be ascertained, the name and surname, age, occupation, term of residence in said city, place of nativity, condition of life; whether single or married, widow or widower; color, last place of residence and the cause of death of such deceased persons, and the medical examiners of the city, shall, in their certificates conform to the requirements of this section.

§ 6. Such charter is hereby amended by inserting therein a new section, to be numbered section fifteen hundred and eighty-five-a, and to read as follows:

COUNTY CLERKS TO EXERCISE CERTAIN STATUTORY POWERS AND DUTIES OF CORONERS

§ 1585-a. In the city of New York the powers imposed and the duties conferred upon coroners by the provisions of title three of chapter two of the code of civil procedure shall be exercised and performed by the county clerk of the appropriate county, and said county clerk shall, in the exercise and performance thereof, be subject to the same liabilities and responsibilities as are prescribed in such title in the case of coroners.

§ 7. Sections seventeen hundred and sixty-six to seventeen hundred and seventy-nine, both inclusive, of chapter four hundred and ten of the laws of eighteen hundred and eighty-two, entitled “An act to consolidate into one act and to declare the special and local laws affecting public interests in the city of New York,” and all acts amending such sections, are hereby repealed.

§ 8. The officers and employees now exercising the powers and duties which by this act are abolished, or are conferred or imposed upon the office of chief medical examiner, including coroner’s physicians, shall be transferred to the office of chief medical examiner. Service in the office, board or body from which transferred shall count for all purposes as service in the office of the chief medical examiner.

§ 9. All funds, property, records, books, papers and documents within the jurisdiction or control of any such coroner, or such board of coroners, shall, on demand, be transferred and delivered to the office of the chief medical examiner. The board of estimate and apportionment shall transfer to the office of the chief medical examiner all unexpended appropriations made by the city to enable any coroner, or board of coroners, to exercise any of the powers and duties which by this act are abolished or are conferred or imposed upon such office of chief medical examiner.