Medical Examiner Division

• Suspicious or unknown circumstances
• Homicide or suicide
• Accidents or injuries
• Unlawful use of controlled substances, or the use of a chemical or toxic substance
• Persons who die unexpectedly in good health, while not under the care of a physician immediately before death (such as at home)
• Those that happen while incarcerated in jail or prison, or in police custody.
• Contagious diseases that may pose a public health threat.
• On-the-job activities
• Motto

"Civitatem Servamus Mortes Loquimer" - We represent the living, speak for the dead.

Vision

The Columbia County Medical Examiner's Division (CCMED) is committed to providing quality service in the investigation and the certification of deaths that fall within the jurisdiction of the office. The office will constantly strive to adopt new scientific method that will increase the quality and efficiency, while decreasing overall cost and time necessary to accomplish our mission.

Mission

The mission of the Columbia County Medical Examiner's Division (CCMED) is to serve and protect the interests of the community by safeguarding public well-being, public safety, and public health. This is achieved by determining the cause, manner, and mechanism of sudden or unexplained deaths. We serve as an independent finder of fact in our search for the truth. The medical examiner's investigation and conclusions strive to provide a balance to the scales of justice and seek resolution to medical mysteries.

Core Services

Administrative Services

Columbia County Medical Examiner's Division provides expert medicolegal evaluation and extensive services related to the investigation of deaths that are of concern to the health, safety, and welfare of the community.

The office serves the community by investigating sudden, unexpected, violent, suspicious, and unnatural deaths. Medicolegal staff recognize the tragedy surrounding an untimely death and perform investigations, in part, to assist the grieving family. A complete forensic investigation provides for the quick settling of estates and insurance claims, as well as for implementing civil and criminal actions.

Questions that seem irrelevant in the initial hours after death can become significant in the following months. Family, friends of the deceased as well as the general public can have assurance that the Medical Examiner's Division conducted a comprehensive forensic investigation.

Investigative Services

Medicolegal death investigation officers are charged by statute to investigate deaths deemed to be in the public interest--serving both the criminal justice, civil justice, and public health systems. These officials must investigate cooperatively with, but independent from, law enforcement and prosecutors. The parallel investigation promotes neutral and objective medical assessment of the cause and manner of death.

Investigators shall issue a written report for all death investigations. The written reports may include but are not limited to, data from measuring devices, diagrams, evidence and body labeling, interviews, social histories, medical histories, and consultations with physicians. Scientific methods such as autopsy, fingerprints, DNA, radiology, odontology, and any other methods necessary shall be used to determine identification of the deceased as well and cause and manner of death.

Forensic Services

Medicolegal death investigation officers are to safeguard the public interest. Deaths by criminal violence, deaths of infants and children, and deaths in the custody of law enforcement agencies or governmental institutions can arouse public interest, raise questions, or engender mistrust of authority. Further, there are specific types of circumstances in which a forensic examination/autopsy provides the best opportunity for competent investigation, including those needing identification of the deceased and cases involving bodies in water, charred or skeletonized bodies, intoxicants or poisonings, electrocutions, and fatal workplace injuries. Performing in depth examinations/autopsies protects the public interest and provides the information necessary to address legal, public health, and public safety issues in each case. Columbia County Medical Examiner's Division works in conjunction with the Oregon State Medical Examiner's Office to ensure autopsies are conducted on cases that meet the criteria for forensic autopsy.

Mass Casualty Management

The Columbia County Medical Examiner's Division retains control of, and responsibility for, handling the deceased in mass casualty incidents. All assets activated to assist with casualty management operate under the direction of the Columbia County District Attorney's Office as well as the Oregon State Medical Examiner's Office. Once requested assets arrive, the county Medical Examiner/ Chief Medicolegal Investigator has the responsibility to coordinate, integrate, and manage those assets.

Community Education

The Columbia County Medical Examiner's Division will partner with local educational systems to promote forensic knowledge within the community. This is accomplished through annual training opportunities with local high schools and college classes. This relationship is extended to both local law enforcement, fire/EMS and mental health services to steward a successful and knowledgeable working affiliation.

Commonly Asked Questions

Reporting a Death:

You may either contact dispatch at Columbia County's non-emergency number, (503) 397-1521 or simply call 911. This will trigger a response from the Medical Examiner's Division.

24-hour Care Centers and Hospice nurses may call (503) 366-3926. 

Autopsies:

There are two main types of autopsies: forensic and clinical. The first one is performed in case of suspicious, violent, or unknown cause of death. The second is performed in the hospital, by the pathologist, based on the consent of the deceased's next of kin in order to find and better understand the causes of death.

Forensic Autopsy Criteria:

• When there's a need to establish or confirm a cause and manner of death in order to issue a death certificate.
• In cases involving criminal or suspected criminal wrongdoing
• In any case in which an autopsy is considered to be prudent, at the state medical examiner's discretion.