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Madam Coroner: A Memoir of Death and Politics in Suburbia
Paperback
Biographies GeneralDeath & Dying
ISBN13: 9781476660059
Publisher: Exposit Books
Published: Jun 22 2027
Pages: 168
Height: 0.34 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
In 2017, Dr. Christina VandePol was elected coroner in the seemingly affluent and safe community of Chester County, Pennsylvania. To her horror, she discovered a suburban underworld of drug deaths, murder-suicides, unclaimed bodies, and overflowing morgues. As she struggled with inadequate facilities and policies at the height of the opioid epidemic and COVID-19 pandemic, powerful local politicians thwarted her every effort to reform the Coroner's Office. After persevering through almost 6,000 death investigations, VandePol faced a painful decision: remain in a broken system or leave it behind?
Coroners oversee sudden and unexpected deaths in over a thousand U.S. counties, yet we know little about them or their work. In this rare behind-the-scenes memoir, VandePol fearlessly shares the daily life of a coroner, shining a tactical flashlight on homicides, fentanyl overdoses, mismanagement of the pandemic, and the disturbing influence of politics on death investigation. Intertwining memoir with true crime narrative, she reveals the toll of vicarious trauma, the raw emotions around violent death, and how life's biggest challenges can make us stronger.
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