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United States Medicolegal Autopsy Laws

NCJ Number
119513
Editor(s)
C H Wecht
Date Published
1989
Length
150 pages
Annotation
This book is a compilation of autopsy laws of the fifty States, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, the Canal Zone, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
Abstract
These current data are of practical interest and assistance to medical examiners, coroners, pathologists, hospital administrators, attorneys, and law enforcement officers who are involved in death investigations. It is emphasized that laws pertaining to the investigation of violent, sudden, suspicious, unexpected, unexplained, and medically unattended deaths, and the official basis for the performance of postmortem examinations in such instances, are undergoing change in various jurisdictions and will undoubtedly continue to change. The content of the laws for each State includes the person who may authorize and perform a medicolegal autopsy, circumstances under which an autopsy may be authorized and under which an exhumation autopsy may be authorized, statutory provisions relating to the availability and voluntary release of autopsy protocol, and statutory authorities.

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