10 exam-style questions with answers and explanations, straight from our 1,030-question bank. Tap an answer to check yourself. When you're ready, take the scored version in the free practice test.
The RC exam has 240 questions and runs 4 hours.
These 10 free RC questions are organized by exam domain, so you can see how each part of the Registry Certification (basic) blueprint is tested. Reveal the answer and explanation under each question.
A hospital refuses to provide an admission record without next-of-kin authorization. The medical examiner requested the record to determine cause of death, the examiner's authority has been verified, and no separate legal restriction applies. Under HIPAA, the hospital:
Correct answer: A - May disclose the relevant record for the examiner's authorized duties without family authorization.
A man with substantial facial injuries has been identified by fingerprints. His wife asks, "I am afraid of what I will see. Do I have to look at him?" A supported viewing is permitted, and there is no immediate safety concern. Which reply best supports her decision?
Correct answer: B - "Viewing is your choice. I can describe his condition before you decide."
A four-month-old infant was reportedly placed supine on an adult bed and later found prone near a pillow. EMS has removed the infant, and a relative has rearranged the bedding. The person who placed the infant and the person who found the infant are both available. Which approach would best recover the original sleep-scene information?
Correct answer: D - Obtain separate doll demonstrations of the placed and found positions, documenting whose account each depicts.
A maintenance worker is found motionless in standing water beside a damaged electric pump. An officer has secured the room but has not verified that the equipment is de-energized. No skin burns are visible from the doorway. Before approaching the body, the investigator must:
Correct answer: A - Have qualified personnel isolate the electrical source and verify that the area is safe.
A nearly straight scalp wound overlies the parietal bone. Its margins are abraded, and intact strands of tissue bridge the wound base. A responder described it as a knife cut. Which classification best accounts for the morphology?
Correct answer: C - Blunt-force laceration
The first responding officer photographed a body prone and did not move it. At examination, the posterior trunk has extensive nonblanching lividity with pale contact areas over the shoulder blades and buttocks; the anterior trunk has little lividity. No resuscitation occurred. These findings most strongly support:
Correct answer: C - Prior back-dependent positioning, with pressure over the pale contact areas.
The medical examiner determines that a man died from pneumonia resulting from ventilator dependence after a cervical spinal cord gunshot injury eight months earlier. The investigation establishes that another person deliberately shot him during an assault, although the assailant has not been identified. Which pairing gives the underlying cause for Part I of the death certificate and the medicolegal manner?
Correct answer: D - Underlying cause: cervical gunshot injury; manner: homicide.
At a collapsed building, two detached lower-limb fragments are found in the same small debris pocket. Neither is attached to a recovered torso, and their association is unknown. The recovery team proposes using the nearest torso's identifier for both. The appropriate handling is to:
Correct answer: D - Number, document, and package each separately, preserving their recovery locations.
An adult dies after developing profound unresponsiveness and very slow breathing. Urine collected on hospital arrival is reported as "opiates: negative." The laboratory confirms that this immunoassay detects morphine-related compounds but does not test for fentanyl. A foil packet containing white powder is recovered at the scene. What follow-up would address the analytical gap?
Correct answer: B - Request fentanyl-specific analysis of an appropriate retained biological specimen.
A man removed from an enclosed workshop later dies in hospital. Before oxygen was administered, a conventional two-wavelength pulse oximeter showed 99%, while venous blood CO-oximetry measured carboxyhemoglobin at 24%. How should the investigator interpret the apparently normal pulse-oximeter reading?
Correct answer: B - It cannot exclude carbon monoxide poisoning because carboxyhemoglobin makes that measurement unreliable.
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