June 12, 2007, Introduced by Senators GARCIA, JANSEN and JACOBS and referred to the Committee on Health Policy.
A bill to amend 1953 PA 181, entitled
"An act relative to investigations in certain instances of the
causes of death within this state due to violence, negligence or
other act or omission of a criminal nature or to protect public
health; to provide for the taking of statements from injured
persons under certain circumstances; to abolish the office of
coroner and to create the office of county medical examiner in
certain counties; to prescribe the powers and duties of county
medical examiners; to prescribe penalties for violations of the
provisions of this act; and to prescribe a referendum thereon,"
by amending sections 2, 3, and 5 (MCL 52.202, 52.203, and 52.205),
section 2 as amended by 2004 PA 153 and sections 3 and 5 as amended
by 2006 PA 569, and by adding section 5b.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 2. (1) A county medical examiner or deputy county medical
examiner shall investigate the cause and manner of death of an
individual under each of the following circumstances:
(a) The individual dies by violence.
(b) The individual's death is unexpected.
(c) The individual dies without medical attendance by a
physician, or the individual dies while under home hospice care
without medical attendance by a physician or a registered nurse,
during the 48 hours immediately preceding the time of death, unless
the attending physician, if any, is able to determine accurately
the cause of death.
(d) The individual dies as the result of an abortion, whether
self-induced or otherwise.
(e) The individual dies as the result of 1 or more injuries
suspected to have been caused by a fire.
(2) If a prisoner in a county or city jail dies while
imprisoned, the county medical examiner or deputy county medical
examiner, upon being notified of the death of the prisoner, shall
examine the body of the deceased prisoner.
(3) In conducting an investigation under subsection (1) or
(2), a county medical examiner or deputy county medical examiner
may request the circuit court to issue a subpoena to produce
medical records, books, papers, documents, or other items related
to the death being investigated. The circuit court may punish
failure to obey a subpoena issued under this section as contempt of
court.
(4) Medical records, books, papers, documents, or other items
that a county medical examiner or deputy county medical examiner
obtains in conducting an investigation under this act, whether in
response to a subpoena or otherwise, are exempt from disclosure
under the freedom of information act, 1976 PA 442, MCL 15.231 to
15.246.
(5) As used in this section:
(a) "Home hospice care" means a program of planned and
continuous hospice care provided by a hospice or a hospice
residence that consists of a coordinated set of services rendered
to an individual at his or her home on a continuous basis for a
disease or condition with a terminal prognosis.
(b) "Physician" means a person licensed as a physician under
part 170 or part 175 of the public health code, 1978 PA 368, MCL
333.17001 to 333.17084 and 333.17501 to 333.17556.
(c) "Registered nurse" means a person licensed as a registered
professional nurse under part 172 of the public health code, 1978
PA 368, MCL 333.17201 to 333.17242.
Sec.
3. (1) Any physician and any person A physician, an
individual
in charge of any a hospital
or institution other
health
facility, or any person another individual who shall have has
first
knowledge
of the death of any person 1
or more of the following
shall immediately notify the county medical examiner or deputy
county medical examiner of that fact:
(a)
An individual who shall have died
suddenly, unexpectedly,
accidentally,
violently, or as the result of any suspicious
circumstances. ,
or
(b) An individual who died as a result of 1 or more injuries
suspected to have been caused by a fire.
(c) An individual who died without medical attendance during
the
48 hours prior to immediately
preceding the hour of death,
unless the attending physician, if any, is able to determine
accurately
the cause of death. , or in any case of death due to
(d) An individual who died as a result of what is commonly
known
as an abortion, whether self-induced or otherwise. , shall
notify
the county medical examiner or his or her deputy immediately
of
the death.
(2)
If the physician, person individual
in charge of any a
hospital
or institution other
health facility, or other person
individual
who has first knowledge of the death of
a person an
individual as described under subsection (1) has knowledge that
there were 2 or more individuals involved in the same accident who
were approximately the same age, sex, height, weight, hair color,
eye color, and race, then he or she shall make the county medical
examiner or his or her deputy aware of that fact and whether or not
any of those individuals survived that accident when notifying the
examiner or deputy of the death as required under subsection (1).
If any of those individuals survived, the county medical examiner
or his or her deputy shall also be informed which hospital or
institution those individuals were taken to and the hospital or
institution shall also be made aware that the accident involved 2
or more individuals with similar attributes.
Sec.
5. (1) When If a county medical examiner or deputy county
medical
examiner has notice that there has
been found within his or
her
county or district the body of a
person an individual who is
supposed
to have come to his or her death may
have died in a manner
as
indicated described in section 3
has been found within the
county medical examiner's geographical jurisdiction, the county
medical
examiner shall take charge of the body.
, and if, on view
of
If after examining the body and personal inquiry into
investigating
the cause and manner of the death , the county
medical examiner or deputy county medical examiner considers a
further
examination necessary, the county medical examiner or a
deputy
he or she may cause the dead body to be removed to the
public
morgue. If the investigation is solely
for the reason only
that
the dead person decedent had no medical attendance during the
48
hours before immediately
preceding the hour of death, and if the
dead
person decedent had chosen not to have medical attendance
because of his or her bona fide held religious convictions, removal
shall
is not be required unless there is evidence of
other
conditions
stipulated described in section 3. If there is no public
morgue,
then the body may be removed to a private morgue as
designated
by the county medical examiner has
designated or deputy
county medical examiner.
(2) The county medical examiner or deputy county medical
examiner
may designate a person medical examiner investigator
appointed
pursuant to under section 1a(2) to take charge of the
body, make pertinent inquiry, note the circumstances surrounding
the death, and, if considered necessary, cause the body to be
transported to the morgue for examination by the county medical
examiner or deputy county medical examiner. The county medical
examiner or deputy county medical examiner shall maintain a list of
persons
medical examiner
investigators appointed pursuant to under
section
1a(2) and their qualifications which and shall be filed
file
the list with the local law enforcement
agencies. The person A
medical
examiner investigator appointed pursuant
to under section
1a(2)
shall not be an agent or employee of any a person or funeral
establishment licensed under article 18 of the occupational code,
1980 PA 299, MCL 339.1801 to 339.1812, receive, directly or
indirectly,
any remuneration in connection with the disposition of
the
body, or make any funeral or burial arrangements
without
approval
of the next of kin, if they are found known, or the person
individual responsible for the funeral expenses.
(3)
The Except as otherwise
provided in section 5b, the county
medical examiner may perform or direct to be performed an autopsy
and
shall carefully reduce or cause to be reduced to writing every
each fact and circumstance tending to show the condition of the
body
and the cause and manner of death, together with and shall
include
in that writing the names name and
addresses address of any
persons
each individual present at the autopsy. , which record he
or
she shall subscribe. The
individual performing the autopsy shall
subscribe the writing described in this subsection.
(4) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection or section
5b, upon receipt of a written request from a law enforcement agency
or prosecuting attorney investigating the death of an individual
who died as a result of 1 or more injuries suspected to have been
caused by a fire, the county medical examiner or his or her
designee shall perform an autopsy upon the body of the individual.
If the county medical examiner does not perform or order the
performance of an autopsy pursuant to a request received under this
subsection, the county medical examiner shall explain to the
requester in writing within 48 hours of receiving the written
request for the autopsy that the death was directly caused by fire
and that an autopsy was not required to determine other possible
causes of death. If the law enforcement agency or prosecuting
attorney believes that an autopsy would contribute materially to
the investigation, the law enforcement agency or prosecuting
attorney may file a petition with a court of competent jurisdiction
for a review of the county medical examiner's decision not to
perform an autopsy. A law enforcement agency or prosecuting
attorney shall file a petition under this subsection within 24
hours after receiving oral or written notice of the county medical
examiner's decision not to perform the autopsy or within 24 hours
after the county medical examiner fails to respond within the 48-
hour time limit. The court in which the petition is filed shall
hold a hearing on the petition within 48 hours after the petition
is filed. If the court determines that an autopsy would contribute
materially to the investigation, the court shall order the county
medical examiner to perform the autopsy immediately and to transmit
the results of the autopsy to the petitioner within 24 hours after
the autopsy is performed and all necessary tests are completed.
(5) (4)
The Except as otherwise
provided in this subsection
and subject to subsection (6), the county medical examiner or
deputy county medical examiner shall ascertain the identity of the
deceased
decedent and notify immediately and as
compassionately as
possible notify the next of kin of the decedent's death and the
location
of the body. except that such The notification
described
in this subsection is not required if a person from the state
police, a county sheriff department, a township police department,
or a municipal police department states to the county medical
examiner or deputy county medical examiner that the notification
has already occurred.
(6) If visual identification of an individual is impossible as
a result of burns, decomposition, or other disfiguring injuries or
if the county medical examiner is aware that the death is the
result of an accident that involved 2 or more individuals who were
approximately the same age, sex, height, weight, hair color, eye
color, and race, then the county medical examiner shall verify the
identity of the deceased through fingerprints, dental records, DNA,
or other definitive identification procedures and, if the accident
resulted in the survival of any individuals with the same
attributes, shall notify the respective hospital or institution of
his or her findings. The county medical examiner may conduct an
autopsy under subsection (3) if he or she determines that an
autopsy
reasonably appears to be required pursuant to law. After
Except as otherwise provided in section 5b, after the county
medical examiner, a deputy, a person from the state police, a
county sheriff department, a township police department, or a
municipal police department has made diligent effort to locate and
notify
the next of kin, he or she the
county medical examiner may
order and conduct the autopsy with or without the consent of the
next of kin of the deceased.
(7) (5)
The county medical examiner or a
his or her deputy
shall keep a written record of the efforts to locate and notify the
next of kin for a period of 1 year from the date of the autopsy.
The
county medical examiner shall, after any After a required
examination or autopsy, the county medical examiner shall promptly
deliver or return the body to relatives or representatives of the
deceased. or,
if If there are no relatives or representatives of
the deceased known to the county medical examiner, he or she may
cause
the body to be decently buried
, except that the medical
examiner
pursuant to law, but may retain, as long as may be he or
she
determines necessary, any a portion
of the body believed by the
county
medical examiner to be necessary for
the detection of any a
crime.
Sec. 5b. (1) Subject to subsection (2), a county medical
examiner or deputy county medical examiner shall not perform an
autopsy on the body of a deceased person if a next of kin of the
deceased person informs the county medical examiner or deputy
county medical examiner that an autopsy would be contrary to the
deceased person's religious beliefs.
(2) A county medical examiner or deputy county medical
examiner may perform an autopsy under the circumstances described
in subsection (1) if the county medical examiner or deputy county
medical examiner determines that there is a compelling public
necessity for the autopsy. If the county medical examiner or deputy
county medical examiner determines that there is a compelling
public necessity for the autopsy, he or she shall not perform the
autopsy for a period of 24 hours after making the determination of
compelling public necessity. A compelling public necessity exists
for the purposes of this section if either of the following
circumstances exists:
(a) An autopsy is necessary for the conduct of a criminal
investigation by a law enforcement agency.
(b) An autopsy is necessary to determine the cause of the
deceased person's death in order to protect against an immediate
and substantial threat to the public health.
(3) During the 24-hour period described in subsection (2), a
next of kin described in subsection (1) may petition a court of
competent jurisdiction to enjoin the autopsy. The next of kin shall
inform the county medical examiner or deputy county medical
examiner in writing of the petition. The court in which the
petition is filed shall conduct a hearing on the matter within 48
hours of the filing of the petition. If the court finds that there
is a compelling public necessity, the court shall allow the county
medical examiner or deputy county medical examiner to perform the
autopsy. A county medical examiner or deputy county medical
examiner who performs an autopsy under this section shall use the
least intrusive procedures allowed under the circumstances.
(4) As used in this act, "next of kin" means the spouse of a
deceased individual or an individual related to the deceased
individual within the third degree of consanguinity as determined
by the civil law method.