Coroners vehicles

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Pat Post

Would a coroner or medical examiner office have used an ambulance for a removal vehicle? Maybe in a large city? I was never an EMT but I have worked under contract for a medical examiner's office. I want to go down that road with my '73 Superior "54. I've seen newer pictures of an ambulance outfitted for coroner's use.
 
From the information I received, my 67 Superior was used as a removal vehicle for a company in Ottawa called Capital Mortuary, so, I guess the answer to your question is that it is possible.
 
We use a Dodge Caravan, but we are in a small town, back then they used the ambulance or the combo. I have some old footage of the Morgue de Montreal, 1968, some older types of Econolines were used in Montreal by the office.
 
my 72 Seville was originally purchased as a coroners wagon. it was used for that purpose till it was sold. it then went to first call use
 
Ontario shyed away from using ambulances,in our neck of the woods station wagons and vans are the normal vehicles,all the years we watched Quincy on T.V.he never carried a deceased,but had a warning system on his wagon,:pat:
 
My fiancee brought up a good point concerning this. If one isnt sure if their coach was used for removal/first call/etc. or if you know it has been, is there any risk of germs or worse, inside the interior? Also how do you know/find out if it was used for those things or not?
 
When we had the removal service our one man cots had covers attached to them and they were cleaned every call,rest assured nothing looked worse than a stained floor and every precaution was taken to avoid this, body bags for most accident/violent deaths were the norm.:smileflagcan:
 
Dont know what kind of use other funeral homes do with their removal vehicles, I can't talk for others but our vehicles, even on coroners cases are super clean, we use all protection we can to be sure nothing contaminate the car... but I am more worried of germs on a car used as ambulance. At least for a deceased he is wrapped in plastic..
 
if it is a hearse it was used for a first call car. at some time in it life. now then find me a germ that can live on a hard surface for 20 years. all the nasty ones need live people to host on. I don't recall hauling a body with out being bagged in the ambulance. will maybe one or two like they said the gurney had provisions for absorbing any fluids. anyone working around sick people knows how to clean or they don't last in the business. you have greater problems with the door knob going in and out of a public bath room then anything a professional has used.
 
Josh Rutter said:
My fiancee brought up a good point concerning this. If one isnt sure if their coach was used for removal/first call/etc. or if you know it has been, is there any risk of germs or worse, inside the interior? Also how do you know/find out if it was used for those things or not?
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I think you will find more ACTIVE germs on a public bus,train,or even a rental car !!:snow2_smi:
 
James Fischer said:
I think you will find more ACTIVE germs on a public bus,train,or even a rental car !!:snow2_smi:
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Well said! I would feel much safer eating right off a casket table that I knew has been used for removals, than touching a public bathroom door knob.
Besides the things mentioned earlier (body bags, cleaning, ETC), Ive seen alot of funeral homes and coroners have a platform down that the gurney sits on, as in this pic.
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Any disease causing pathogens that would have been left behind are long dead by now. Without nourishment they die immediately. HIV virus dies completely within 24 hours. There is nothing to worry about.
 
My favorite movie coroner's vehicle was the '74 limousine style Superiors used in Night Shift... tried to find a photo of them and couldn't... The opening to the movie and the Quarterflash song were the best part of the movie...
 
When I was working in Ventura county in Calif the Coroners used Chev wagons with vinyl tarps that were snapped ala Boat covers to cover the remains in their transport.

I often kidded Margo Martin,one of the Deputy Coroners about being my Mom when we worked a scene together. She admitted after awhile the snaps wouldn't work and she kept asking her sups to have the rear windows tinted. They never did.

Here in Phoenix when I first arrived the Coroners used contracted Mortuaries for transport. I was shocked at one scene to see a Mexican mortuary show up with a 50's Pontiac coach with broken window and a stick shift on the column one night.

The County now uses full size, refrigerated Ford vans with a 2 man crew.
 
Mike Burkhart said:
Any disease causing pathogens that would have been left behind are long dead by now. Without nourishment they die immediately. HIV virus dies completely within 24 hours. There is nothing to worry about.
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This being said, Hepatitis C can live on a surface for 16 hours, but no longer than 4 days.
 
Removal vehicles

The "attitude" here is that hearses depress people in general, so the removal is done by unmarked van. I think the best example is a Ford "E" series black or white van, or Chevy equivalent. The ME uses a contract services, which many funeral homes also use for midnight shift removals. The home I worked for was the only one around here to do their own removals 24/7. There were personalized license plates on each vehicle, so if you looked at the plate, you knew it was from the funeral home.
 
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