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Senate committee hears proposal to remove required pre‑cremation medical examiner view
Summary
A bill to eliminate the separate in‑person medical examiner view before cremation drew questions about investigation safeguards and funeral‑industry liability. Sponsors and the chief medical examiner said the change would speed family access to remains while preserving death‑certification safeguards.
Sen. Sue Prentiss, sponsor of Senate Bill 146, told the Senate Judiciary Committee the bill would remove New Hampshire’s current requirement that an associate deputy medical examiner perform an in‑person view of a body before cremation. “As written, we are only talking here about eliminating the views prior to cremation,” Prentiss said.
The change would not alter the underlying death‑certification process, proponents said. Jenny Duval, the state chief medical examiner, said death certificates — including cause and manner of death — are produced through existing channels before a body is transferred to a funeral home. “We’re only trying to make the system more efficient for number one, for the families,” Duval said, adding that New Hampshire switched to a regional full‑time medical examiner system about two years ago.
Supporters said two developments prompted the bill: the shift to regional associate deputy medical examiners (ADMEs) and a steady rise in cremation rates, which together have lengthened delays between death and families receiving remains. Duval said roughly 12,000 deaths in the state are certified annually; about 2,000 of those are non‑natural deaths that fall to the medical examiner’s office and roughly 600 proceed to autopsy each year. She said the required pre‑cremation view occurs for a very small share of cases and that the death certificate process already includes multiple checks for accuracy.
Opponents and interested parties raised concerns about liability and missing evidence. Peter Morin, executive director of the New Hampshire Funeral Directors and Embalmers Association, said funeral professionals have relied on ADME views before cremation because cremation is final. Morin urged consideration of legal protections or “hold harmless” language for funeral directors who may be the last persons to see a decedent before cremation. He described examples where follow‑up contacts with the medical examiner were needed after funeral staff raised questions about a decedent’s history.
Committee members asked how the change would affect discovery of unreported deaths and whether the ADME jurisdiction would still act in unexpected deaths found outside institutions. Duval and a second witness described existing reporting rules that require referral to the medical examiner for unexpected or traumatic deaths and said the proposal preserves ADME involvement where statute or circumstances require it.
No formal committee action was recorded during the hearing; senators asked staff and stakeholders to continue technical review. The bill’s proponents said they would work with funeral professionals and counsel to address liability language and implementation details.
The hearing included extended technical explanation from the chief medical examiner’s office and testimony from the funeral industry. The committee did not vote on SB 146 at the hearing.
