Medical examiners are senior NHS doctors who, after completing specialist training work part time in this role. Their job is to give an independent view on causes of death and the care provided (except for deaths which have to be investigated by a coroner).
Medical examiners and their staff (usually called medical examiner officers) offer families and carers of the person who died an opportunity to ask questions or raise concerns about the causes of death, or about the care the person received before their death. This will usually be through a telephone call, or sometimes a meeting.
They can explain what medical language means, and make it easier to understand what happened. Medical examiners also look at relevant medical records, and discuss the causes of death with the doctor who is completing the official form (known as the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death).
You can be confident medical examiners and medical examiner officers will provide an independent view. They will never review the causes of death of a person they provided care for.