Reporting deaths, death investigations and other duties of coroners and medical examiners, disposition of bodies, and providing a penalty

Reporting Deaths Under current law, any person who has knowledge of certain deaths must report the death to the sheriff, police chief, or medical examiner or coroner for the locality in which the death occurred. The following types of deaths must be reported:

a death that involves unexplained, unusual, or suspicious circumstances; a homicide or suicide; a death following an accident; a death that is due to poisoning; a death following an abortion; a death for which a physician or spiritual advisor did not attend the deceased within 30 days before death; and a death for which a physician refuses to sign the death certificate or for which a physician cannot timely be obtained to sign the medical certification that is required for a death certificate. A sheriff or police chief who is notified of such a death must notify the coroner or medical examiner of the death, and the coroner or medical examiner must notify the district attorney.

This bill requires that, if a death must be reported, any person who has knowledge of the death must report it to the coroner or medical examiner and may, in addition, report it to a law enforcement officer.

The bill requires that a law enforcement officer, health care provider, or funeral director who has knowledge of a death that occurs outside of a hospital, nursing home, hospice, or physician's office and any person who discovers the body or remains of a deceased individual outside of a hospital, nursing home, hospice, or physician's office must report the death to the coroner or medical examiner in the county where the death occurred or where the body or remains were located. The bill also includes specific reporting requirements for deaths that occur in hospitals, nursing homes, hospices, or physician's offices. First, a health care provider must report each death that occurs in a physician's office. Second, a hospice must report deaths that occur while a person is receiving care from hospice in accordance with the corner or medical examiner's written policy. Third, a hospital or nursing home must report each death that occurs at the hospital or nursing home and that did not result from a natural disease process. Fourth, a hospital must report each death that occurs in the emergency department of the hospital.

Currently, the penalty for failure to report a death for which reporting is required is a fine not to exceed $1,000 or imprisonment for not more than 90 days.

The bill increases the maximum fine to $10,000 for a partnership, association, organization, institution, or body politic or corporate that fails to report a death for which reporting is required.

Jurisdiction to investigate death and notifications Currently, a sheriff or police chief to whom a death is reported must notify a coroner or medical examiner, and the coroner or medical examiner must notify the district attorney.

The bill assigns jurisdiction to investigate a death to the coroner or medical examiner in the county in which occurred the crime, injury, or other event that caused the death. However, if it cannot be determined where the event that caused the death occurred, or if the death occurred outside the state, the coroner or medical examiner in the county in which death was pronounced has jurisdiction to investigate. The bill provides that the coroner or medical examiner who has jurisdiction to investigate a death has custody of the deceased's body and prohibits any person from moving the body at or from a death scene without authorization from the coroner or medical examiner. The bill requires a coroner or medical examiner who receives notice of a death to notify the deceased's next of kin. The bill provides that a coroner or medical examiner need not notify the district attorney of certain types of reported deaths if the district attorney has waived notice in writing.

Autopsies and other diagnostic procedures Currently, a coroner, medical examiner, or district attorney may order an autopsy conducted on a body if there is reason to believe that the death resulted from a homicide or certain other crimes or suicide, or occurred under unexplained or suspicious circumstances. A coroner or medical examiner must order an autopsy on any person who dies while confined in a correctional facility in this state. If a child who is under two years of age dies unexpectedly or under circumstances indicating sudden infant death syndrome, the coroner or medical examiner must order an autopsy unless the parent or guardian in writing requests that an autopsy not be performed. If the autopsy reveals that sudden infant death syndrome is the cause of death, that cause shall be stated in the autopsy report. No person may perform an autopsy on the body of a person whose death must be reported without obtaining written authorization from the coroner or medical examiner.

Under current law, if an autopsy is not performed in connection with a death that must be reported, the coroner or medical examiner may take specimens from the body for analysis to assist in determining the cause of death. The coroner or medical examiner must take specimens for analysis in such cases if requested to do so by the spouse, parent, child, or sibling of the deceased.

The bill requires a coroner or medical examiner to order an autopsy for the following deaths: a death that likely resulted from a crime; a death of a person under 18 years of age that is unusual or unexplained; a death of a person who is in the custody of a law enforcement officer or under active pursuit by a law enforcement officer, or that otherwise involves a law enforcement officer; a death of a person who is confined in federal prison or confined in a jail or otherwise confined by a sheriff;

and a death of a person who is detained or institutionalized in connection with a civil commitment, preliminary proceedings for civil commitment, or criminal trial competency proceedings. The bill repeals the requirement that a coroner or medical examiner, in cases where a death must be reported, must take specimens from a deceased's body upon request of the deceased's spouse, parent, child, or sibling.

Under the bill, if a coroner or medical examiner does not order an autopsy for a death that must be reported and a representative of the deceased inquires about performance of an autopsy, the coroner or medical examiner must inform the representative that the representative may independently contract for pathology-related services. Finally, the bill repeals the requirement that a coroner or medical examiner order an autopsy when a child who is under two years of age dies unexpectedly under circumstances indicating sudden infant death syndrome, and repeals the requirement that, when applicable, coroners and medical examiners cite sudden infant death syndrome as the cause of death in an autopsy report.

Investigation records and handling of personal property The bill requires that each coroner or medical examiner keep records of each death investigation and specifies the contents of the records. The bill further requires that the coroner or medical examiner keep death investigation records in an office that is owned or leased by the county and designated as the office of the coroner or medical examiner.

The bill provides that records of autopsies and other diagnostic procedures are confidential. Under the bill, a coroner or medical examiner may release such records only to persons who have authority to access the deceased's health care records without informed consent, to a representative of the deceased, or for educational purposes. The bill requires that a coroner or medical examiner keep all confidential records that are gathered for an investigation, such as health care records, confidential. At the request of a law enforcement agency investigating a death, a coroner or medical examiner must keep death investigation records and information related to an investigation confidential during the course of the investigation. The bill also requires that each coroner or medical examiner maintain written policies regarding access to death investigation records.

The bill requires a coroner or medical examiner to maintain an inventory of personal property that the coroner or medical examiner takes from a death scene or from a deceased. The bill specifies that the coroner or medical examiner must destroy or donate to a drug repository program any prescription medications that the coroner or medical examiner collects in an investigation and does not provide to a law enforcement agency.

Disposition of bodies Under current law, the coroner's or medical examiner's authorization is required for various activities related to the disposition of bodies.

Authorization to embalm or dispose of a body.

Under current law, a coroner's or medical examiner's authorization is required to embalm or perform an autopsy on the body of a person whose death must be reported. A coroner or medical examiner must issue the authorization within 12 hours of receiving notice of the death or as soon thereafter as possible in the event of unexplained, unusual, or suspicious circumstances.

The bill requires an authorization from the coroner or medical examiner to embalm, bury, entomb, cremate, or deliver for research purposes, the body of person whose death must be reported. The bill specifies certain information that a coroner or medical examiner must include on an authorization to embalm or dispose of a body, eliminates the general 12-hour deadline for issuing an authorization to embalm, and provides that a coroner or medical examiner must issue an authorization to embalm or dispose of a body as soon as possible after being notified of a death.

Cremation permit.

Under current law, a cremation permit issued by a coroner or medical examiner is required for cremation of the body of any deceased person.

Currently, a person may not cremate a body within 48 hours of death, or discovery of death, unless the death was caused by a contagious or infectious disease. A coroner or medical examiner must view a body and make inquiry into the cause and manner of death before issuing a cremation permit. Finally, a cremation permit for the body of a person who died outside the state may be used only in the county in which it is issued.

The bill calls the authorization required for cremation a release rather than a permit. The bill provides that even when a death is caused by a contagious or infectious disease, the body may not be cremated within 48 hours of the pronouncement of death unless the body must be cremated immediately to effectively contain the disease or a public health authority orders the sooner disposal of the body during a state of emergency that is related to public health. The bill requires that, if the medical certification of the cause and manner of death on a death certificate is completed by a physician, the coroner or medical examiner must review the medical certification before issuing a cremation release. The bill further requires that a coroner or medical examiner must specify on a cremation release the earliest date and time that cremation may occur. Finally, the bill requires that a person who receives a body for medical research or education must request a cremation release before receiving the body.

Authorization to disinter and reinter.

Under current law, a coroner or medical examiner must issue an authorization to disinter and reinter a body upon an order of the court or at the request of various next of kin of the deceased or another person who has authority to dispose of the body.

The bill clarifies that no person, other than a cemetery, may disinter a body or human remains without authorization from the coroner or medical examiner. The bill adds, as a condition for obtaining a coroner's or medical examiner's authorization for disinterment without a court order, that the person requesting authorization provide proof of intent to cremate or bury the disintered remains.

Disposition of unidentified or unclaimed bodies.

Under current law, if an inmate of a state, county, or municipal institution dies, and a relative or friend of the deceased does not claim the body and a medical or mortuary school does not take the body, the superintendent of the institution must bury the body.

This bill provides that, if a person other than the superintendent of a state, county, or municipal institution has an unidentified or unclaimed body, the person shall notify the coroner or medical examiner, who must bury or cremate the body.

Under the bill, if a coroner or medical examiner buries or cremates the body, the county must pay the costs of burial or cremation with funds other than funds appropriated for the operation of the coroner's or medical examiner's office. The bill further provides that, if the coroner or medical examiner makes reasonable efforts to identify a body and notify the deceased's representative of disposal of the body, the coroner or medical examiner is immune from civil liability for his or her choice of method for disposing of the body.

Mental health treatment records Under current law, a coroner or medical examiner may obtain a deceased's health care records without informed consent for the purpose of completing a medical certification on a certificate of death or for conducting a death investigation. This bill provides a coroner or medical examiner access to a deceased's mental health treatment records without informed consent for the purpose of completing a medical certification on a certificate of death or for conducting a death investigation.

Because this bill creates a new crime or revises a penalty for an existing crime, the Joint Review Committee on Criminal Penalties may be requested to prepare a report concerning the proposed penalty and the costs or savings that are likely to result if the bill is enacted.