ABOUT US

The Medical Examiner's Office investigates those deaths occurring in Pierce County which are of concern to public health, safety, and welfare. This includes all violent or otherwise unnatural deaths and deaths of apparent natural causes which occur suddenly or under suspicious or unexplained circumstances. Based on the evidence discovered, the Medical Examiner's Office makes every attempt to accurately determine the identity and circumstances leading up to the death through thorough death investigations. Modern medical and forensic science is applied to the death investigation process by highly trained technical staff so that murder shall be recognized, the innocent shall be exonerated, and previously unrecognized public health and industrial hazards shall be revealed. While interacting and cooperating with many state, county and municipal agencies, the Medical Examiner's Office provides for an independent assessment of an individual's death. This objective and independent role of the Medical Examiner's Office calls for sound and impartial forensic medical documentation and testimony for both criminal and civil law proceedings. The Medical Examiner's Office has jurisdiction over human remains in certain cases as defined by Washington State Law RCW 68.50.010. The Medical Examiner's Office has statutory authority to perform autopsies without family permission.