The Jackson Parish Coroner’s Office is a medical legal government entity mandated by Louisiana State Law to investigate the manner and cause of death in certain types of death.  The types of death which are mandated by law are:  1. Suspicious, unexpected and deaths of an unusual manner.  2. Sudden or violent deaths in any form.  3. Deaths due to unknown or obscure causes or in any unusual manner.  4. Bodies found dead.  5. Deaths without an attending physician within thirty-six hours prior to the hour of death.  6. Deaths due to suspected suicide or homicide.  7. Deaths in which poison is suspected.  8. Any death from natural causes occurring in a hospital under twenty-four hours following      admission unless seen by a physician in the last thirty-six hours.  9. Deaths following an injury or accident either old or recent. 10. Deaths due to drowning, hanging, burns, electrocution, gunshot wounds, stabs or cutting, 11. lightning, starvation, radiation, exposure, alcoholism, addiction, tetanus, strangulation,       suffocation or smothering. 12. Deaths due to trauma from whatever cause. 13. Deaths due to criminal means or by casualty. 14. Deaths in prison or while serving a sentence. 15. Deaths due to virulent contagious disease that might be caused by or cause a public hazard  including acquired immune deficiency syndrome. 16. All deaths of infants under the age of one year.

Mandated  Death  Investigation

The method and/or manner in which the Coroner classifies each death for the completion of the death certificate. NATURAL:  Death that is a result of natural causes, such as disease processes, or basic health related issues. ACCIDENT:  Death that is unintentional that may have resulted from significant injury, ingestion of substance or other abnormality. SUICIDE:  Death that is the result of intentional taking of one’s on life.  Suicide may occur for a number of reasons including depression, shame, guilt, desperation, physical pain, emotional pressure anxiety, financial difficulties or other undesirable situations. HOMICIDE:  Death that is the result of any human being killing another human being. UNDETERMINED:  Death that after a complete investigation the cause and manner of death is not clearly determined.                     

Manner of Death