I can only speak for our office, but we never have two reports. The autopsy report is the autopsy report. The information contained therein is the same, no matter who will be furnished with the report.

That said, we do not issue copies of the report until it is finalized. This means that all of the tests (toxicology) have to come in, all of the microscopic slides have to be “read” by the pathologist, all of the outside-agency investigative reports have to be collated… In its final form, the autopsy report represents the sum total of ALL of the work that goes into establishing cause and manner of death, even though the thrust of it reads like a blow-by-blow of the autopsy itself.

To put it another way, a gunshot wound to the head can be suicide, homicide, or accident. The actual autopsy will bear out the same information, no matter what the manner of death is. The scene investigation, law enforcement investigation, subsequent interviews, etc are what help the Medical Examiner decide what manner of death to ascribe. The autopsy is only part of the picture, dig?

I do know that the Death Certificates we give to the office of Vital Statistics in Tallahassee are slightly different from the ones that the funeral homes issue to the family of the decedent. Since I don’t “do” DC’s very often, I can’t expound intelligently on just how they differ. Sorry.

There are probably two reports, one they give the family,
and the real story they have. What do you think?

Thank you.

Sherry

Thanks for your comments. Not sure what you mean’t.

Sherry

I’d have had questions about that death certificate as well.

The ones we generate from our office are very specific, and Florida’s Office of Vital Statistics seems to want more and more minutae on the Death Certificate each year.

God Bless.

Sherry