The Office of the Coroner practices Forensic Pathology for St. Tammany Parish. Its legal purpose is to protect public health and meet the parish’s legal requirements regarding Forensic Pathology.

The Coroner is an elected official with many responsibilities, the foremost of which is investigating and certifying various deaths of legal or public health interest. By law, the Coroner must determine the cause, circumstances, and manner of death for those cases under the Coroner’s legal jurisdiction. The Coroner is also legally responsible for emergency mental health interdiction via the Order for Protective Custody and the Coroner’s Emergency Certificate.

All deaths in St. Tammany Parish must be reported to the Coroner’s Office. This does not mean that all deaths will require autopsy. Natural deaths due to a sequel of a natural disease process, with no suspicious circumstances, will not need an autopsy, and the treating physician will sign the death certificate. However, all deaths in which there is some reason to believe that the death is not due to a natural disease process is a homicide, suicide, accident, or one of the many types of deaths mentioned by law may very well require an autopsy.

Only the Coroner can investigate and sign the Death Certificate if the death is related to a homicide, suicide, accident, a patient with no attending physician, an industrial-related death, an unidentified person, or where there is some medical reason to consider that the death might be due to a contagious disease.

In addition to the work performed by sections of local, State, and Federal Laws, in some instances, living persons are examined. Adults and children are examined to evaluate injuries and collect evidence.

The DNA Laboratory of the St. Tammany Parish Coroner’s Office performs forensic DNA analysis for all law enforcement agencies within the parish. The DNA testing results are often presented as expert testimony in the parish’s criminal and civil courts.