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Committee approves bill requiring autopsies within 72 hours when requested by prosecutors or courts
Summary
The Senate Government Organization Committee voted to report House Bill 2358 to the full Senate after adopting a committee amendment that clarifies the 72-hour autopsy trigger and requires timely delivery of autopsy reports to prosecutors.
The Senate Government Organization Committee on Oct. 12 reported House Bill 2358 to the full Senate with a recommendation that it pass as amended.
The bill would require autopsies to be conducted within 72 hours of the time the decedent was received by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner when a prosecuting attorney, a circuit court, or another court of record having criminal jurisdiction in the county requests the autopsy. It also requires a copy of the autopsy report be provided to the prosecuting attorney of any county where injury contributing to or causing the death occurred "within 24 hours of completion," according to committee counsel.
Committee counsel explained the committee amendment adopted in committee removes the word "request" from the 72-hour sentence and instead ties the timeframe to when the decedent is received by the medical examiner's office. "You have to obviously have the decedent available to conduct the autopsy," counsel said when describing the amendment. The committee adopted that amendment by voice vote.
Matt Izzo, chief administrator for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, testified the office does not object to the bill. Izzo told the committee the office is currently able to conduct autopsies within 72 hours in about 90% of cases but noted recognized caveats: identification problems or other case-specific issues can delay performance. "In 90 percent of cases currently, we're able to conduct autopsy within 72 hours of receipt," Izzo said. He also told the committee the office does not issue preliminary findings as an official record in accordance with National Association of Medical Examiners standards; law enforcement or prosecutors may attend the autopsy to ask questions of the examining physician.
After discussion the vice chair moved to report the bill to the full Senate with a recommendation that it do pass as amended. The chair announced the motion adopted on a voice vote.
The committee record shows the bill as amended will be sent to the Senate for further consideration.
