is limited to determining who the deceased was and how, when and where they came by their death. when the death is suspected to have been either sudden with unknown cause, violent, or unnatural, the coroner decides whether to hold a post-mortem examination and, if necessary, an inquest. conclusions (previously called verdicts) the coroner's former power to name a suspect in the inquest conclusion and commit them for trial has been abolished. the coroner's conclusion sometimes is persuasive for the police and crown prosecution service, but normally proceedings in the coroner's court are suspended until after the outcome of any criminal case is known. more usually, a coroner's conclusion is also relied upon in civil proceedings and insurance claims. the coroner commonly tells the jury which conclusions are lawfully available in a particular case. the most common conclusions include: natural causes industrial disease alcohol or drug related suicide accident/misadventure road traffic collision lawful killing open verdict unlawful killing still birth lawful killing includes lawful self-defence. there is no material difference between an accidental death conclusion and one of misadventure. conclusions are arrived at on the balance of probabilities. neglect cannot be a conclusion by itself. it must be part of another conclusion. a conclusion of neglect requires that there was a need for relevant care (such as nourishment, medical attention, shelter or warmth) identified, and there was an opportunity to offer or provide that care that was not taken. an open conclusion should only be used as a last resort and is given where the cause of death cannot be identified on the evidence available to the inquest. a coroner giving a narrative conclusion may choose to refer to the other conclusion. a narrative conclusion may also consist of answers to a set of questions posed by the coroner to himself or to the jury (as appropriate). england and wales the coroner service in england and wales is supervised by the chief coroner, a judge appointed by the lord chief justice after consulting the lord chancellor. the chief coroner provides advice, guidance and training to coroners and aims to secure uniformity of practice throughout england and wales. the post is currently part-time. the present chief coroner is judge thomas teague. england and wales are divided into coroner districts by the lord chancellor, each district consisting of the area or areas of one or more local authorities. the relevant local authority, with the consent of the chief coroner and the lord chancellor, must appoint a senior coroner for the district. it must also appoint area coroners (in effect deputies to the senior coroner) and assistant coroners, to the number that the lord chancellor considers necessary in view of the physical character and population of the district. the cost of the coroner service for the district falls upon the local authority or authorities concerned, and thus ultimately upon the local inhabitants. there are 98 coroners in england and wales, covering 109 local authority areas. northern ireland coronial services in northern ireland are broadly similar to those in england and wales, including dealing with treasure trove cases under the treasure act 1996. northern ireland has three coroners, who oversee the province as a whole. they are assisted by coroners liaison officers and a medical officer. scotland in scotland, there are no longer coroners. coroners existed in scotland between about 1400 and 1800 when they ceased to be used. now deaths requiring judicial examination are reported to the procurator fiscal and dealt with by fatal accident inquiries conducted by the sheriff for the area. united states as of 2004, of the 2,342 death investigation offices in the united states, 1,590 were coroners' offices, 82 of which served jurisdictions of more than 250,000 people. qualifications for coroners are set by individual states and counties in the u.s., and vary widely. in many jurisdictions, little or no training is required, even though a coroner may overrule a forensic pathologist in naming a cause of death. some coroners are elected, and others appointed. some coroners hold office by virtue of holding another office: in nebraska, the county district attorney is the coroner; in many counties in texas, the justice of the peace may be in charge of death investigation; in other places, the sheriff is the coroner. in different jurisdictions the terms "coroner" and "medical examiner" are defined differently. in some places, stringent rules require that the medical examiner be a forensic pathologist. in others, the medical examiner must be a physician, though not necessarily a forensic pathologist or even a pathologist; physicians with no experience in forensic medicine have become medical examiners. in others, such as wisconsin, each county sets standards, and in some, the medical examiner does not need any medical or educational qualifications. not all u.s. jurisdictions use a coroner system for medicolegal death investigation—some are on a medical examiner system, others are on a mixed coroner–medical examiner system. in the u.s., the terms "coroner" and "medical examiner" vary widely in meaning by jurisdiction, as do qualifications and duties for these offices. advocates have promoted the medical examiner model as more accurate given the more stringent qualifications. local laws define the deaths a coroner must investigate, but most often include those that are sudden, unexpected, and have no attending physician—and deaths that are suspicious or violent. in some places in the united states, a coroner has other special powers, such as the ability to arrest the county sheriff. duties duties always include determining the cause, time, and manner of death. this uses the same investigatory skills of a police detective in most cases, because the answers are available from the circumstances, scene, and recent medical records. in many american jurisdictions, any death not certified by the person's own physician must be referred to the medical examiner. if an individual dies outside of his/her state of residence, the coroner of the state in which the death took place issues the death certificate. only a small percentage of deaths require an autopsy to determine the time, cause and manner of death. in some states, coroners have additional authority. in louisiana, coroners are involved in the determination of mental illness of living persons. in georgia and colorado the coroner has the same powers as a county sheriff to execute arrest warrants and to serve process, and is the only county official empowered to arrest the county sheriff; in certain situations where there is no sheriff, the coroner officially acts as sheriff for the county. in kentucky, section 72.415 of the kentucky revised statutes gives coroners and their deputies the full power and authority of peace officers. this includes the power of arrest and the authority to carry firearms. in north carolina, the coroner exists by law in approximately 65 counties, but the office is active in only ten of them; in the counties that have coroners, they are set forth as common law peace officers, yet the coroner of the county also has judicial powers: to investigate cause and manner of death, as in other states, but also to conduct inquests, to issue court orders, to empanel a coroner's jury and to act as sheriff in certain cases or even arrest the sheriff for cause. beginning in 2015, the nc office of chief medical examiner (ocme) began optional training for coroners to become special assistant medical examiner investigators (nc ch130a & 152). in indiana, the coroner is the only law enforcement officer who has the authority to arrest and incarcerate the county sheriff and take command of the county jail. the coroner is also the only official who may serve the sheriff with civil process. in new york city, the office of coroner was abolished in 1915, since before that time, having medical knowledge was not actually a requirement, leading to much abuse of position. in california 41 of the 58 counties have merged the county sheriff's office and the county coroner's office. in these counties, the sheriff also serves as the coroner. notable examples wynne edwin baxter larry campbell, former provincial coroner for british columbia thomas noguchi (born 1927), former chief medical examiner-coroner for the county of los angeles charles norris morton shulman, former provincial coroner for ontario william wynn westcott athelstan braxton hicks, late 19th-century coroner in london and surrey artistic depictions film in the song "ding-dong! the witch is dead", from the classic 1939 film the wizard of oz, the coroner of munchkinland confirms the death of the wicked witch of the east. literature m. r. hall is a british crime novelist, who writes a series of best-selling novels featuring bristol-based coroner, jenny cooper. novelist bernard knight, a former home office pathologist and a professor of forensic pathology at the university of wales college of medicine, is well known for his crowner john mysteries series set in 12th-century devon, england. ("crowner" is an archaic word for "coroner" and is based on the origins of the word. see the history section above.) television although coroners are often depicted in police dramas as a source of information for detectives, there are a number of fictional coroners who have taken particular focus on television. dr. camille saroyan is a federal coroner and the head of the forensic division at jeffersonian institute in the tv series bones. british television drama series the coroner has as its main character a coroner based in a fictional devon town. crossing jordan features jill hennessy as jordan cavanaugh, m.d., a crime-solving forensic pathologist employed in the massachusetts office of the chief medical examiner. the coroner is a significant character and a main cast member on csi: crime scene investigation and its spin-offs csi: miami and csi: ny. the television series da vinci's inquest has a coroner as its title character. the american police procedural drama series hawaii five-0 features a coroner named dr. max bergman, played by japanese-american actor masi oka. kujo kiriya from the 2016 japanese tv series kamen rider ex-aid is a coroner. kurt fuller plays woody, a coroner on the american detective comedy-drama psych. the television series quincy, m.e. has the title character (a medical examiner) under the authority of the county coroner. the television series wojeck (the canadian ancestor of quincy, m.e.) has a coroner as its title character, inspired by the coroner dr. morton shulman. in law & order: special victims unit, the detectives are regularly assisted by coroner melinda warner.