![The official who investigates suspicious deaths in your town may be a doctor — or not](https://assets2.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2022/12/18/19b938e9-2c27-4f5c-9bc0-c39b4f0d2122/thumbnail/1200x630/7ff3e851d348babc31dc82b4469eade1/gettyimages-1009504530.jpg)
The official who investigates suspicious deaths in your town may be a doctor — or not
CBSN
When a group of physicians gathered in Washington state for an annual meeting, one made a startling revelation: If you ever want to know when, how — and where — to kill someone, I can tell you, and you'll get away with it. No problem.
That's because the expertise and availability of coroners, who determine cause of death in criminal and unexplained cases, vary widely across Washington, as they do in many other parts of the country.
"A coroner doesn't have to ever have taken a science class in their life," said Nancy Belcher, chief executive officer of the King County Medical Society, the group that met that day.
![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250211015324.jpg)
As vaccination rates decline, widespread outbreaks of diseases like measles and polio could reemerge
Health officials in western Texas are trying to contain a measles outbreak among mostly school-aged children, with at least 15 confirmed cases. It's the latest outbreak of a disease that had been virtually eliminated in the U.S., and it comes as vaccination rates are declining — jeopardizing the country's herd immunity from widespread outbreaks.