4D49
MEDICAL EXAMINER

This is specialized medical work directing all operations of a City-wide medical-legal investigative program for determining the cause and manner of sudden, violent, or otherwise suspicious deaths. The employee in this class directs and participates in the performance of postmortem examinations, including autopsies, and is responsible for the translation of findings of causes of death into constructive preventive medicine programs. Supervision of a large staff of medical professional and forensic, technical and investigative employees, and the establishment of co-criminal justice agencies, hospitals, and professional medical, legal and social service societies are of major significance to the work. Work is performed under the direction a higher level administrator.

• Establishes policies for deciding jurisdiction of cases as well as for determining case and manner of violent, suspicious, or unexplained deaths including homicides, suicides, accidents, and questionable maternal or drug-related deaths; sets up policies and procedures for receiving, storing, and releasing bodies; develops policies governing the delegation of responsibility for postmortem examinations to hospital pathologists.
• Directs through subordinate supervisors the work of a large staff of medical, technical, investigative, and other personnel engaged in performing autopsies and laboratory analyses, in gathering evidence, and in preparing detailed reports on the circumstances surrounding deaths; reviews cases through analysis of laboratory findings and case history reports, by individual and staff conferences, and by personal observation while autopsies are in process.
• Participates in the conduct of postmortem examinations; studies, microscopically, specimens obtained during the autopsy; prepares reports of findings; translates findings into preventive public health programs, such as those designed to prevent accidental poisonings or to control or prevent drug abuse.
• Conducts teaching conferences for staff members, trainees, and officials of local law enforcement agencies by presiding at seminars and by exhibiting and discussing photographs, microscopic slides, and other medical-legal evidence; directs the operation of the forensic pathology fellowship program; determines the need for, and presides at inquests; hears and evaluates evidence, and makes the final determination of the cause and manner of death.
• Develops and maintains professional working relationships with hospital authorities, the medical community, and community groups; represents the medical examiner's office at meetings and conferences; conducts courses in forensic medicine to train interns, residents, and students in the functions and responsibilities of the medical examiner's office.
• Directs the maintenance of all medical administrative records, the custody of deceased persons' effects, and the disposition of unclaimed descendants and effects; furnishes law enforcement officials with evidence of a medical and scientific nature; testifies in court as an expert witness.
• Performs related work as required.

KNOWLEDGE OF:

• the principles, practices, literature, and current developments in the fields of pathological anatomy and forensic pathology.
• the diversified specialized equipment, instruments, and materials required in all phases of pathology.
• the procedures involved in detecting, analyzing, evaluating, and interpreting manifestations and symptoms of physical conditions from pathologic examinations.
• microscopy, toxicology, and investigative techniques as they relate to forensic medicine.
• the principles and practices of general medicine and surgery.
• supervisory methods and techniques.

ABILITY TO:

• direct the work of a large staff of professional, technical, and non-professional employees engaged in various tasks relating to the determination of the cause and manner of deaths.
• solve complex problems arising in the performance of postmortem examinations.
• establish and maintain effective working relationships with associates, professional groups, governmental officials and the public.
• testify in court as an expert witness.

Graduation from an accredited school of medicine or osteopathy with a degree of Doctor of Medicine or Osteopathy and completion of an internship in an approved hospital.

Possession of a certificate in pathology as issued by the American Board of Pathology in Anatomic and Forensic Pathology or Osteopathic Board of Pathology.

Five years of post certificate medical experience in forensic pathology, one year of which has been at the deputy or assistant medical examiner level for a large urban jurisdiction handling a minimum of 2,000 reported medical cases annually.

PHYSICAL AND MEDICAL REQUIREMENTS

• Ability to physically perform the duties and to work in the environmental conditions required of a position in this class.

LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS AND/OR CERTIFICATES

• Possession of a valid license to practice medicine or osteopathy in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania issued by the State Board of Medical Education and Licensure or the State Board of Osteopathic Examiners prior to appointment, or must be eligible for and obtain a license to practice medicine in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania within one year of appointment.