Many coroners lack training, raising doubts in Pennsylvania on whether the local office should still be an elected one

Many of Pennsylvania's county coroners and medical examiners "lack adequate funding, transparency, and training," Ashad Hajela reports for Spotlight PA, in the latest of many such stories from many states over many years. Most Pennsylvania coroners, are elected but only five of the state's 67 counties have an accredited coroner or medical examiner. In many rural counties, "challenges are exacerbated because many coroners don’t have access to the labs and specialists who help investigate deaths," Hajela writes.

The rural coroners are less likely to have accreditation than their urban counterparts, a study from the state-run Center for Rural Pennsylvania finds. Those rural coroners also often have to "bear the burden of additional costs of transportation and lack of personnel because of their location," Hajela writes. 

Experts have long debated whether coroners should be elected. Christina VandePol, a former coroner and one of the study's authors, said elected coroners are able to work independently from counties so they're not always at the whim of district attorneys or county officials. "This autonomy can be important for investigating deaths like those in county jails. VandePol explained that because of her office’s independence, she was able to release the names of nursing homes that had more Covid-19 deaths while she was under pressure not to," Hajela reports. Conversely, elected coroners may be unqualified for the job. If a medical examiner was hired in they wouldn't have to meet residency requirements needed to run for office, "which allows counties to attract applicants beyond the county’s boundaries."