ABMDI Board (F-ABMDI) study guide
ABMDI Board (F-ABMDI) · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators (ABMDI) is a voluntary, national, not-for-profit, independent professional certification board established to promote the highest standards of practice for medicolegal death investigators. ABMDI certifies individuals who have the proven knowledge and skills necessary to perform medicolegal death investigations as set forth in the National Institute of Justice 1999 publication Death Investigation: A Guide for the Scene Investigator (a 2011 updated version is available). The ABMDI Board (F-ABMDI) study guide has 5 sections and about 1,507 words.
01Medicolegal Death Investigation Systems, Jurisdiction, and Legal Authority
Every power a death investigator exercises - taking custody of a body, securing a scene, ordering or authorizing an autopsy, subpoenaing medical records, pronouncing death, releasing remains - flows from a state or local statute, not from professional custom. Know the two structural models: coroner systems, where the official is elected or appointed under statutory qualifications that may not include medicine, and medical examiner systems, where an appointed physician, usually a forensic pathologist, directs the office.
334 words, about 2 min02Scene Investigation and Scene Documentation
Scene work begins with safety and preservation: PPE, hazard assessment, an entry and exit log, and a perimeter that is widened rather than narrowed. Your first walk-through should be slow and narrative - route, lighting, weather, who is present, what has been moved.
293 words, about 1 min03Decedent Examination, Identification, and Property
A systematic head-to-toe external examination records general description, clothing, medical devices, and every injury with location, size, shape, and character. Collect trace evidence, fingernail scrapings, swabs, and sexual assault kits when indicated, and note that radiographs may reveal projectiles, fractures, or implanted devices.
288 words, about 1 min04Death Circumstances, Injury Interpretation, and Follow-Up Investigation
Distinguish cause (the disease or injury that initiated the fatal sequence), mechanism (the physiologic derangement, such as arrhythmia or exsanguination), and manner (natural, accident, suicide, homicide, undetermined). Manner reflects intent and circumstance, not injury severity; a self-inflicted wound and a homicidal wound may look identical.
301 words, about 2 min05Reporting, Death Certification, Ethics, and Professional Practice
The certificate asks for a chain: the immediate cause on the top line, each antecedent condition below it, and the underlying cause on the lowest line, with an approximate interval for each. The underlying cause is the initiating event and is what public health statistics count.
291 words, about 1 min