§ 23-4-1. Definitions. (a) “Assistant medical examiner” means a duly licensed doctor of medicine or osteopathy appointed to assist the office of state medical examiners on a part-time basis. (b) “Autopsy” means the dissection of a dead body and the removal and examination of bone, tissue, organs, and foreign objects for the purpose of determining […]
§ 23-4-10. Disposition of deceased bodies. (a) The office of state medical examiners shall, after any postmortem examination or any autopsy, promptly release the deceased body to the relatives, representatives or domestic partners of the deceased. The cost of transporting the deceased body to a mortuary within the state of the relatives’ or domestic partner’s […]
§ 23-4-11. Effects and property of deceased. An agent of the office of state medical examiners, as the case may be, may take into his or her possession all articles and property of the deceased on or about the body and shall deliver them to the office of the chief medical examiner if an autopsy […]
§ 23-4-12. Compensation for recovery of body from water. When services are rendered in bringing to land the dead body of a person found in any of the harbors, rivers, or waters of the state, compensation for services as he or she deemed reasonable may be allowed; but this privilege shall not entitle any person […]
§ 23-4-13. Establishment of fees. The director of the department of health shall establish fees for autopsy reports, cremation certificates, and statistics. The director shall also impose fees, at an hourly or daily rate, to give testimony in civil suits under this chapter. All fees are as set forth in § 23-1-54. The director is […]
§ 23-4-14. Preservation of reports — Tabular reports. The director of the department of health shall cause the returns received by the office of state medical examiners and reports made by that office on causes of death for each year, in accordance with this chapter, to be bound together with an index to the volume. […]
§ 23-4-14.1. Repealed.
§ 23-4-15. Morgue. A centrally located morgue shall be provided with laboratories, furniture, equipment, records, and supplies that may be required in the conduct of the office of state medical examiners. History of Section.P.L. 1973, ch. 169, § 1; P.L. 1992, ch. 400, § 1.
§ 23-4-16. Uniform determination of death. A person who has sustained either: (1) irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions, or (2) irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem, is dead. A determination of death must be made in accordance with accepted medical standards. History of Section.P.L. 1982, ch. […]
§ 23-4-2. Establishment of office. (a) There is established in the department of health the office of state medical examiners. The director of health, with the advice of the state medical examiners commission, is authorized to adopt, amend, promulgate, and enforce rules and regulations and standards that may be designed to further the accomplishment of […]
§ 23-4-3. Functions. The office of state medical examiners shall be responsible for: (1) The investigation of deaths within the state that, in its judgment, might reasonably be expected to involve causes of death enumerated in this chapter; (2) For the conduct of inquests when requested by the attorney general; (3) For the performance of […]
§ 23-4-3.1. Immunity. No member of the multidisciplinary teams shall be subject to arrest, prosecution, or penalty in any manner, or denied any right or privilege, including, but not limited to, civil penalty or disciplinary action by a business, occupational, or professional licensing board or entity (and, for members who are state employees, termination or […]
§ 23-4-4. Jurisdiction. The office of state medical examiners shall have the authority to make postmortem examinations, to undertake inquests, and to perform autopsies where there may be in its judgment a reasonable belief that the manner of death could be pronounced as: (1) Death by a homicide, suicide, or casualty; (2) Death due to […]
§ 23-4-4.1. Procedure for performance of autopsies against a family’s religious beliefs. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in the absence of a compelling public necessity, no dissection or autopsy shall be performed over the objection of a surviving relative or friend of the deceased that the procedure is contrary to the religious belief […]
§ 23-4-5. Chief medical examiner — Assistants and other staff. (a) The office shall be under the immediate supervision of a chief, who shall be known as the “chief medical examiner” and who shall be a physician licensed under the provisions of chapter 37 of title 5, and a qualified pathologist certified by the American […]
§ 23-4-6. State medical examiners commission. (a) There is established the state medical examiners commission. The commission shall hear and determine appeals to decisions by chief medical examiners regarding the undertaking of investigations, inquests, and autopsies, and shall advise the chief medical examiner on matters of public concern. (b) The commission shall consist of twelve […]
§ 23-4-7. Reporting of certain deaths required — Violations — Penalties. (a)(1) Where any person shall die in any manner to suggest the possibility of a criminal act or as the result of violence or apparent suicide, or from a criminal abortion or in any suspicious or unusual manner, it shall be the duty of […]
§ 23-4-8. Procedure for investigation of deaths. (a) When the office of state medical examiners has notice that there has been found or is lying within this state the body of a person who is supposed to have come to his or her death by violence, or in any manner as stated in § 23-4-7, […]
§ 23-4-9. Deaths in public places. In the event that a person dies suddenly on a public highway or elsewhere in the public view and the death appears to be from natural causes or the result of injuries received from a highway accident, the state police or any superior officer of the local police or […]
