Medical examiners

Medical examiners are senior medical doctors, who independently examine causes of death outside of their usual duties. They are trained legally and clinically in the death certification process. 

Their purpose is to:

• safeguard the public by ensuring independent examination of all deaths that do not need a coroner
   
• ensure the appropriate direction of deaths to the coroner
   
• improve the quality of death certification
   
• improve the quality of data on deaths

Read about the NHS national medical examiner system and the extension of the medical examiners role.