That catches up with you.
Sorry to hear about your friend, Robin.
That’s cruel and unusual punishment. 
Robin
Which is only prohibited in criminal cases.
[I actually have a lot of respect for people who demand accountability from the government, and/or expect a high degree of professionalism from its scientific professionals. I just hate whiners.]
Excellent post/username combo!
And sorry to hear your bad news, Robin.
No more than usual - again, just the medical examiner’s records (and paramedic/physician’s records if they thought he was still alive when they found him).
Some states do have their own legislation providing additional privacy rights to the bereaved and/or deceased, but there’s nothing like that on a federal level.
May I offer a little bit of dissent, here?
I agree that the jerk targeted in the OP was an unreasonable person, but I don’t think that asking for transparency in government spending (if that was what the jerk was asking for) is what makes him a jerk. (More on this later.)
I would like the freedom to decide if I think that a particular government program is either a waste of money due to incompetence or fraud, and the freedom to speak out about getting some kind of change made. I don’t think I should just “shut up, and pay my taxes” like a good little drone unit. I accept, in return, that I may be “out voted” in these various issues, and that it would be impratical to create a system whereby I “direct” my actual tax money to the programs I support.
I think the idiot targetted in the OP is a jerk because I believe that Search and Rescue, Crime Scene Investigation, and disposal of bodies (in the case of homeless folks, or folks that cannot be identified) a legitimate use of my tax dollars. If the idiot in the OP thinks that such services are a waste of tax dollars, then I disagree with him. (If the jerk is worried that his Police Department is a bunch of screw ups, he should have said that…)
If he wants the salacious details of a crime scene investigation and autopsy report in order to satisfy some kind of “jollies”, than he is a bigger dick than I am first assuming…
I don’t disagree with you. Transparency is a good thing when it comes to government spending, otherwise our elected officials and bureaucrats would be able to waste it on nonsense more than they already do. In fact, Pennsylvania just established a website so citizens such as thee and me can find out just how much Shippensburg University spends on toilet paper, for instance. (The correct answer to that, BTW, is “not nearly enough”.)
What I’m objecting to is that this demand for accountability can go too far. As others have posted upthread, such people use the “I’m a taxpayer!” excuse to abuse government employees and invade the privacy of other people.
Mr. Ghoulish Asshole is now claiming that he never intended to get the autopsy report and death certificate. Of course, his motives in finding any information are only the purest. :rolleyes:
I did a little digging and it turns out that, in PA anyway, vital records such as birth and death certificates are not accessible to the general public, and the only information available through the coroner’s office is the name, cause and manner of death. Prior to January, 2008, autopsy reports could only be sealed by court order, and only if cause was shown, so Ghoulish Asshole is just shit out of luck.
Robin
mlees, I don’t disagree with you about the desirability of accountability for public monies. I just think complaining that the details of an investigation are not put into the press isn’t the way to get the information. Use an FOI request and anything not specifically covered by HIPPA or other privacy laws will be revealed. I really think the yutz in the OP was just a would-be ghoul.
I’m afraid I’m so jaded I find that more likely than that the yutz is concerned that a potential suicide might be buried in consecrated ground - about the only allegedly legitimate reason I can think of for someone to care whether a stranger had been a victim of self-murder.
On preview: That’s good to hear, MsRobyn. And I’d like to offer my belated condolances to you. I’m sorry I let myself get so distracted I forgot about your loss in all this.
One of the more memorable moments from working at the family shelter:
“My welfare check pays your salary!”
>boggle<
I’ve gotten this one as well, many times, having worked for the Dept. of Ed and for state colleges.
Older Dopers may remember the episode of All in the Family on which Archie is trapped in an elevator with an obviously wealthy lawyer played by Roscoe Lee Browne. When Archie makes a borderline racist comment about being a taxpayer Browne just turns to him and says “I hand out more in tips than you pay in taxes.” I don’t think I’m usually an arrogant or classist person, but I do long to be wealthy enough that I can one day say this to one of these entitled assholes and mean it. 
Wasn’t that the episode where the young couple had a baby on the same elevator? And the lawyer made some derogatory comment about people having children they couldn’t afford?
I used to get this line all the time when I was a deputy sheriff. My immediate response was, “I’m putting in for a raise, then.”
You can’t buy alcohol with food stamps. Not in the USA at least.
Or at least not legally.
Robin
Just adding on to your thoughts…
Are birthday cakes for an 8 yr old child a “luxury”? If a child is being raised in conditions poor enough to warrent assistance, then a Birthday cake might be a real good thing in terms of self estime.
I grew up in a cash poor, land rich farming family. Mom always made sure we had a birthday cake (Home made and hand decorated) and a “store bought” gift to mark the day. Sometimes it wasn’t much… but what ever it was it was a toy or game or some such “frivolous” thing. This was when we were taking lunches to school consisting of “home made” bread (poor us, YUM!) with thick slices of our own beef and pork on it.
I guess, in hind sight, we were cash poor, but pretty rich… after all…
Regards
FML
Thanks for the replies to my comments. I meant no disrespect in them.
I knee-jerked to the “just shut up and pay” in the subtitle of the OP. 
Unfortunately, I have seen that phrase used as a weapon intended to stifle dissent on taxpayer funded policies.
It actually seems we are all in agreement here, as far as I can tell. The level of detail Mr. Ghoul expects (in that all activities of the police must be itemised, and done as a matter of SOP) is unreasonable and/or impractical, and that there is some reasonable level of privacy afforded to the victim or next of kin in many of these police activities.