Death managers, public health, and COVID‐19: An exploratory study

Abstract

The ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic has exacerbated cracks in the United States' healthcare systems—along with its deathcare systems. The pandemic as an ongoing mass fatality incident highlights the need to understand the public servants engaged in deathcare work, as they are a vital part of the emergency response equation. This exploratory, descriptive study focuses on the ways in which medical examiners and coroners (ME/Cs) in the United States provide core emergency management services to communities, relying on findings from interviews with 18 ME/Cs throughout the country. Findings indicate how COVID‐19 cases are counted is difficult, the pandemic changed how ME/Cs operate in response, and burnout is eminent for these public servants.