Re: There Are No Standards or Oversight for Pathologists in the US
Historically in Rhode Island, the only qualification for being the coroner was to be the eldest justice of the peace in the town, a position which itself had few qualifications other than being appointed by the General Assembly. I have always been intrigued by somewhat frequent references in 19th century town meeting records to a "body found in the road." These are invariably identified as a person "of color," and the greatest attention in the record was to the reimbursement for the cost of burial. Given the utter lack of qualifications for coroners, the frequency of such incidents in the records and the low regard for persons "of color" at the time, I have often wondered that behind the seeming lackadaisical investigation if there wasn't something a bit more sinister going on.
Doesn't seem like much has changed since then in this regard.
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