The Medical Examiner’s Office is seeking two Medical Examiner’s Investigators to work a varying schedule that will include occasional days, evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays.
 
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office provides death investigative and forensic autopsy services to Hennepin, Dakota, and Scott counties, as well as additional Minnesota and Wisconsin counties on a referral basis. We serve a population of over 1.7 million residents covering approximately 1,500 square miles. Our goal is to assist families, law enforcement agencies, and the legal system by determining a scientifically unbiased and logical cause and manner of death. The office is a National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME) accredited agency with a staff of board-certified forensic pathologists and an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accredited forensic pathology fellowship program.

In these positions, you will:      

• Conduct investigative activities within the prescribed statutory limits, departmental policies, regulations, directives, and guidelines for medicolegal death investigators; this will include scene visits and scene reenactments, including photography and specimen collection for the purpose of gathering and developing information relevant to the death investigation; interview individuals and agencies to obtain information relevant to a decedent’s background and circumstances of death.
• Identify, gather, inventory, and transport decedents, personal effects, and evidence from the location of death or other relevant location(s).
• Prepare comprehensive investigative reports including circumstances and preliminary determinations of cause of death and manner of death on all reportable deaths; request, review, and prepare supplemental reports on medical records, law enforcement, EMS, and other ancillary reports relevant to the investigation.
• Perform investigative duties to identify, locate, and notify the decedent’s legal representative(s); communicate with legal representatives of the decedent, funeral directors, attorneys, medical personnel, law enforcement, and others in matters relating to the death investigation.
• Identify, locate, and gather information to ensure decedent identification is confirmed by department policy and scientific methods; order appropriate radiographic exams.
• Refer decedents for tissue and eye donation according to department procedure.
• Participate in daily case review, presenting case data including circumstantial details, preliminary manner and cause, notification of the legal representatives, identification, and donor status.
• Review and approve cremation authorizations.
• Assist with intake processing of decedents, including fingerprint collection.

Need to have: 

• One of the following:
  • Bachelor’s degree or higher in forensic science, mortuary science, criminal justice, laboratory science, allied sciences, or related field and two years or more of experience working in a medical examiner’s office or related field.
  • Six years or more of experience working in a medical examiner’s office or related field.
• Registry certified (basic) as a Medicolegal Death Investigator by the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators (ABMDI) within six months of employment or upon meeting eligibility requirements. 
• A valid driver’s license and the ability to obtain a Hennepin County driver’s permit.
• Ability to lift and carry up to 100 pounds 4-8 times a day with or without a reasonable accommodation. 

Nice to have:   

• Experience:
  • Handling bodies in a morgue, mortuary, and/or similar setting. 
  • Gathering and analyzing information and writing reports.
• Ability to:
  • Remain calm, professional, decisive, and accurate in situations which are often chaotic and with people who are emotionally distraught.
  • Communicate with sensitivity and discretion, with a variety of individuals representing diverse cultures and backgrounds.
  • Read and interpret medical records. 
• Knowledge of:
  • Human anatomy, physiology, and forensic pathology.
  • Medical terminology.

About the department: