“Nobody Wants a Trailer That Had Dead Bodies in It”: A Descriptive Study of the Ethics of Public Sector Deathcare

Death is all around, yet more research is needed to understand it is a critical public management function especially at the local level of government. Medical examiners and coroners are public servants guided by science and jurisdictional rules, yet get caught in a swirl of empathy, politics, and resource constraints when acting as citizen-state agents. Using interview data with 18 medical examiners, coroners, and deathcare leaders throughout the US, this article finds that: ethical leadership guides decision making; neutral competence and professional standards are used yet sometimes challenged; and personal conduct in the face of internal and external pressure remains key to accountability. Findings are not meant to generalize but rather give insight into public servants dealing with socially and politically challenging topics and how they exercise decision-making abilities within these situations.