Reasons for conducting autopsy in Tennessee.
Full Question:
Answer:
Laws in Tennessee enumerates several situations during which autopsies are conducted. It may or may not be poisoning. The relevant statutes in Tennessee are discussed below:
Tenn. Code Ann. § 38-7-106 discusses when autopsies are authorized. It reads as follows:
(a) A county medical examiner may perform or order an autopsy on the body of any person in a case involving a homicide, suspected homicide, a suicide, a violent, unnatural or suspicious death, an unexpected apparent natural death in an adult, sudden unexpected infant and child deaths, deaths believed to represent a threat to public health or safety, and executed prisoners. When the county medical examiner decides to order an autopsy, the county medical examiner shall notify the district attorney general and the chief medical examiner. The chief medical examiner or the district attorney general may order an autopsy in such cases on the body of a person in the absence of the county medical examiner or if the county medical examiner has not ordered an autopsy. The district attorney general may order an autopsy in such cases on the body of a person in the absence of the county medical examiner or the failure of the county medical examiner to act. The authority ordering the autopsy shall notify the next of kin about the impending autopsy if the next of kin is known or reasonably ascertainable. The sheriff or other law enforcement agency of the jurisdiction shall serve process containing such notice and return such process within twenty-four (24) hours.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a), if a request is received from an authorized official of a not-for-profit corporation chartered under the laws of the state, or authorized to do business in the state and certified by the Eye Bank Association of America to obtain, store and distribute donor eyes and eye tissues to be used for corneal transplants, for research and for other medical purposes, the county medical examiner may permit, at any time, the removal of the cornea or corneal tissue from the body of a deceased person in accordance with the provisions of title 68, chapter 30, part 1.
Further, Tenn. Code Ann. § 38-7-108 says about death under suspicious, unusual or
unnatural circumstances. It says
(a) Any physician, undertaker, law enforcement officer, or other person having knowledge of the death of any person from violence or trauma of any type, suddenly when in apparent health, sudden unexpected death of infants and children, deaths of prisoners or persons in state custody, deaths on the job or related to employment, deaths believed to represent a threat to public health, deaths where neglect or abuse of extended care residents are suspected or confirmed, deaths where the identity of the person is unknown or unclear, deaths in any suspicious/unusual/unnatural manner, found dead, or where the body is to be cremated, shall immediately notify the county medical examiner or the district attorney general, the local police or the county sheriff, who in turn shall notify the county medical examiner. The notification shall be directed to the county medical examiner in the county in which the death occurred.
(b) Whenever a death occurs under the circumstances as set forth in this chapter, the body shall not be removed from its position or location without authorization by the county medical examiner, except to preserve the body from loss or destruction or to maintain the flow of traffic on a highway, railroad, or airport. No body subject to post-mortem examination as provided by this chapter shall be embalmed without authorization by the county medical examiner.
(c) (1) If a body is subject to post-mortem examination under this chapter, the provisions of this chapter shall be suspended to the extent necessary for the preservation of any body or part of the body, as defined in § 68-30-102, where an anatomical gift of the body or part of the body has been made in accordance with the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, compiled in title 68, chapter 30, part 1.
(2) Any physician, surgeon, undertaker, law enforcement officer, hospital, hospital personnel, or other person who acts in good faith in compliance with the provisions of this subsection (c) for the purposes established shall be immune from civil or criminal liability for removing, transplanting, or otherwise preserving such body or part of a body.
(3) The provisions of this subsection (c) shall govern and supersede any conflicting provisions of law.
(4) The chief medical examiner of the state and the organ procurement agencies serving the state shall develop a protocol for those instances in which this subsection (c) is applicable. The protocol shall be filed with the department of health and shall be reviewed and updated as necessary.
Tenn. Code Ann. § 38-7-109 says that (a) When a death is reported as provided in § 38-7-108, it is the duty of the county medical examiner in the county in which the death occurred to immediately make an investigation of the circumstances of the death. The county medical examiner shall record and store the findings, and transmit copies according to the death investigation guidelines developed by the Tennessee medical examiner advisory council. In any event the county medical examiner is authorized to remove from the body of the deceased a specimen of blood or other body fluids, or bullets or other foreign objects, and to retain such for testing and/or evidence if in the county medical examiner's judgment these procedures are justified in order to complete the county medical examiner's investigation or autopsy.
(b) When an autopsy is ordered by the district attorney general, the county medical examiner shall notify the chief medical examiner and the county medical examiner may perform the autopsy or shall designate and authorize a pathologist to perform the autopsy as provided in § 38-7-105.
Tenn. Code Ann. § 38-7-118 says that the body or remains of any dead human subject to an autopsy or pathology examination pursuant to this chapter shall be delivered to the next of kin as soon as practicable after the completion of the autopsy or pathology examination.
