Delaware County Office of the Medical Examiner

Delaware County Office of the Medical Examiner

Seal of the Delaware County Office of the Medical Examiner
Agency overview
Formed	1979
Jurisdiction	Delaware County, Pennsylvania
Headquarters	340 N. Middletown Road Lima, Pennsylvania 19037
Agency executive	Bennett G. Preston, M.D., Acting Chief Medical Examiner
Website	www.delcopa.gov/ome/

Delaware County Medical Examiner Vehicle

The Delaware County Office of the Medical Examiner is the office responsible for the investigation of all unnatural deaths in Delaware County, Pennsylvania (not purely from natural causes) and natural deaths where there is no treating doctor or which occur suddenly outside a medical institution.

Prior to 1979, the office was known as the Delaware County Coroner's Office. In 1979, the county updated the medicolegal death investigation system to a modernized Medical Examiner system in response to public demand, and facilitated by the home rule charter. The Administrative Headquarters of the office is located within the Fair Acres Complex in Lima, with a connected morgue building.

Organization

The Office of the Medical Examiner is staffed by five Board Certified Forensic Pathologists, a Chief Investigator, several Medicolegal Investigators, an autopsy technician, an office manager, and an office administrator. The Office is currently headed by Dr. Frederic Hellman, Chief Medical Examiner and Dr. Bennett Preston, Deputy Chief Medical Examiner.