Medical Examiner's Office

The Medical Examiner's Office determines the cause and manner of death in Philadelphia when a death is sudden, violent, unattended, or otherwise suspicious. In most Pennsylvania counties this duty belongs to an elected coroner; Philadelphia, as a consolidated city-county, instead has an appointed, physician-led medical examiner's office within city government. ^[1] Its findings feed into criminal investigations by the Police Department and the District Attorney, public-health surveillance (notably overdose deaths) and family matters such as death certificates.

1 Legal role

Under the City's Home Rule Charter and Pennsylvania law the medical examiner investigates deaths that occur by violence, suddenly while in apparent health, unattended by a physician, in custody, or under suspicious or unusual circumstances. The office takes custody of the body, performs examinations including autopsies and toxicology, and issues the cause and manner of death (natural, accident, suicide, homicide or undetermined). A "homicide" ruling in this context is a medical classification that a death resulted from another person's actions; it is not a finding of criminal guilt. Decisions to charge belong to prosecutors.

2 Structure and leadership

The office is part of the Department of Public Health and is led by a Chief Medical Examiner who is a licensed forensic pathologist. Deputy and associate medical examiners perform autopsies, supported by forensic investigators, toxicologists and histology staff, and administrative workers. Press reports describe several changes in the chief's position in recent years, including the reported December 2023 resignation of Dr. Constance DiAngelo, who had been named chief in 2022; CBS News Philadelphia reported that Dr. Lindsay Simon, a forensic pathologist, then took over the role. ^[2] The city's department page lists the office at 400 N. Broad Street, with a 24-hour line for reporting a death and a separate line for general inquiries; it describes seven investigation units that contribute information to individual cases.

3 Workload and standards

Reported figures indicate the office performs roughly 1,600 autopsies a year; the Philadelphia Inquirer reported 1,721 autopsies in 2021, above the 250-per-pathologist annual limit recommended by the National Association of Medical Examiners for accreditation, and that the office was not accredited. ^[3] The city has since moved to modernize facilities and staffing; readers should consult the Public Health Department's current announcements. Overdose, firearm and traffic deaths account for a large share of cases, and the office's data are used by the Health Department in its surveillance reports.

4 Controversies on the public record

The office was at the center of public controversy in 2021 over the remains of children killed in the 1985 MOVE bombing. The bones of two of the children had been kept at the University of Pennsylvania Museum and were later transferred to Princeton University researchers, a fact first reported by Billy Penn in 2021. Separately, on May 13, 2021, Mayor Jim Kenney requested the resignation of Health Commissioner Thomas Farley after it became public that Farley had ordered in 2017 that victims' remains be cremated and disposed of without notifying the families; the next day, staff at the Medical Examiner's Office found a box labeled "MOVE" containing un-cremated remains. The Inquirer also reported on the office's leadership turnover. ^[3][4] In July 2025, during the municipal strike by AFSCME District Council 33, courts issued injunctions requiring some striking city employees, such as 911 dispatchers, to return to work (NBC10), and 6abc reported that this included striking medical examiner's office employees; see 2025 DC 33 Strike. ^[5]

5 What families should know

When a death comes under the office's jurisdiction, the body is taken to the morgue and the next of kin are contacted by investigators; release of the body to a funeral home usually follows after the examination. Families can request autopsy reports and death certificates through the procedures posted by the city, and a request to a medical examiner for records of a death is separate from the Right-to-Know Law. Concerns about the handling of remains can be raised with the Health Department or the City Controller. See also How to File a Complaint.

See also: Department of Public Health, Philadelphia Police Department, Philadelphia District Attorney's Office, AFSCME District Council 33.

References

1. City of Philadelphia, Medical Examiner's Office, phila.gov; Philadelphia Home Rule Charter.
2. CBS News Philadelphia, "New Philadelphia CME takes over highly criticized department"; PhillyVoice and Philadelphia Inquirer on Dr. DiAngelo's resignation (December 2023).
3. Philadelphia Inquirer, reporting on the Medical Examiner's Office accreditation and caseload (June and October 2022).
4. Philadelphia Inquirer and WHYY coverage of the MOVE remains controversy (2021).
5. 6abc, "Philadelphia court orders striking medical examiner's office employees back to work" (July 2025).