The New York County Medical Association has prepared a legislative bill for abolishing the coroner's office in the state of New York. The measure is modeled largely after the Massachusetts law, and among other things it provides for medical examiners who shall furnish accurate and complete information concerning suspicious deaths. The police department or prosecuting attorney is given power to carry the legal investigation of suspicious cases before a magistrate.
It is, indeed, most desirable that this relic of ancient English jurisprudence known as the coroner's office be abolished, and the sooner the better. A more cumbersome, irresponsible, and on the whole useless piece of governmental machinery does not exist than the coroner's office of this country, especially as it appears in our larger cities where the demands for the kind of work it is supposed to do are greatest. In many states the office is a constitutional one, which