A coroner is a public official whose primary function is to investigate by inquest any death thought to be of other than natural causes or occur under unusual circumstances. This is sometimes an elected position, and the individual may not have a medical background.

Coroners:

• investigate the circumstances of all sudden or unnatural deaths reported to them (usually by the police or by a doctor who attended the death)
• look into all the available information to determine the cause of death – in many cases they decide that the death was due to natural causes
• decide whether to order a post-mortem examination (autopsy) if there are questions around the cause of death
• hold an inquest if the post-mortem shows the death was not natural – an inquest is for finding out the facts about the death, not for judging who was to blame

"Until recently, the Coroner had jurisdiction over crimes such as robbery, rape and burglary, in addition to homicides. As late as the early nineteenth century, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that these common law powers still inherently rested with the Coroner, but were seldom exercised. It was not until 1972 that the Coroner statutes became codified and those seldom-used common law powers of the Coroner were officially abolished. "  (Allegheny County Office of the Medical Examiner)