Missouri Revised Statutes
Chapter 58
Coroners and Inquests
←58.715
Section 58.720.1
58.722→
August 28, 2015
Medical examiner, certain counties, to investigate, when--death certificate issued, when--place of death--two counties involved, how determined--efforts to accommodate organ donation.
58.720. 1. When any person dies within a county having a medical
examiner as a result of:
(1) Violence by homicide, suicide, or accident;
(2) Thermal, chemical, electrical, or radiation injury;
(3) Criminal abortions, including those self-induced;
(4) Disease thought to be of a hazardous and contagious nature or which
might constitute a threat to public health; or when any person dies:
(a) Suddenly when in apparent good health;
(b) When unattended by a physician, chiropractor, or an accredited
Christian Science practitioner, during the period of thirty-six hours
immediately preceding his death;
(c) While in the custody of the law, or while an inmate in a public
institution;
(d) In any unusual or suspicious manner;
the police, sheriff, law enforcement officer or official, or any person having
knowledge of such a death shall immediately notify the office of the medical
examiner of the known facts concerning the time, place, manner and
circumstances of the death. Immediately upon receipt of notification, the
medical examiner or his designated assistant shall take charge of the dead
body and fully investigate the essential facts concerning the medical causes
of death. He may take the names and addresses of witnesses to the death and
shall file this information in his office. The medical examiner or his
designated assistant shall take possession of all property of value found on
the body, making exact inventory thereof on his report and shall direct the
return of such property to the person entitled to its custody or possession.
The medical examiner or his designated assistant examiner shall take
possession of any object or article which, in his opinion, may be useful in
establishing the cause of death, and deliver it to the prosecuting attorney
of the county.
2. When a death occurs outside a licensed health care facility, the first
licensed medical professional or law enforcement official learning of such
death shall contact the county medical examiner. Immediately upon receipt of
such notification, the medical examiner or the medical examiner's deputy shall
make a determination if further investigation is necessary, based on
information provided by the individual contacting the medical examiner, and
immediately advise such individual of the medical examiner's intentions.
3. In any case of sudden, violent or suspicious death after which the
body was buried without any investigation or autopsy, the medical examiner,
upon being advised of such facts, may at his own discretion request that the
prosecuting attorney apply for a court order requiring the body to be exhumed.
4. The medical examiner shall certify the cause of death in any case
where death occurred without medical attendance or where an attending
physician refuses to sign a certificate of death, and may sign a certificate
of death in the case of any death.
5. When the cause of death is established by the medical examiner, he
shall file a copy of his findings in his office within thirty days after
notification of the death.
6. (1) When a person is being transferred from one county to another
county for medical treatment and such person dies while being transferred, or
dies while being treated in the emergency room of the receiving facility, the
place which the person is determined to be dead shall be considered the place
of death and the county coroner or the medical examiner of the county from
which the person was originally being transferred shall be responsible for
determining the cause and manner of death for the Missouri certificate of
death.
(2) The coroner or medical examiner in the county in which the person is
determined to be dead may, with authorization of the coroner or medical
examiner from the transferring county, investigate and conduct postmortem
examinations at the expense of the coroner or medical examiner from the
transferring county. The coroner or medical examiner from the transferring
county shall be responsible for investigating the circumstances of such and
completing the Missouri certificate of death. The certificate of death shall
be filed in the county where the deceased was pronounced dead.
(3) Such coroner or medical examiner, or the county where a person is
determined to be dead, shall immediately notify the coroner or medical
examiner of the county from which the person was originally being transferred
of the death of such person and shall make available information and records
obtained for investigation of death.
(4) If a person does not die while being transferred and is
institutionalized as a regularly admitted patient after such transfer and
subsequently dies while in such institution, the coroner or medical examiner
of the county in which the person is determined to be dead shall immediately
notify the coroner or medical examiner of the county from which such person
was originally transferred of the death of such person. In such cases, the
county in which the deceased was institutionalized shall be considered the
place of death. If the manner of death is by homicide, suicide, accident,
criminal abortion including those that are self-induced, child fatality, or
any unusual or suspicious manner, the investigation of the cause and manner
of death shall revert to the county of origin, and this coroner or medical
examiner shall be responsible for the Missouri certificate of death. The
certificate of death shall be filed in the county where the deceased was
pronounced dead.
7. There shall not be any statute of limitations or time limits on cause
of death when death is the final result or determined to be caused by
homicide, suicide, accident, criminal abortion including those self-induced,
child fatality, or any unusual or suspicious manner. The place of death shall
be the place in which the person is determined to be dead, but the final
investigation of death determining the cause and manner of death shall revert
to the county of origin, and this coroner or medical examiner shall be
responsible for the Missouri certificate of death. The certificate of death
shall be filed in the county where the deceased was pronounced dead.
8. Except as provided in subsection 6 of this section, if a person dies
in one county and the body is subsequently transferred to another county, for
burial or other reasons, the county coroner or medical examiner where the
death occurred shall be responsible for the certificate of death and for
investigating the cause and manner of the death.
9. In performing the duties, the coroner or medical examiner shall comply
with sections 58.775 to 58.785 with respect to organ donation.
(L. 1973 S.B. 122 §§ 7, 8, A.L. 1989 S.B. 389, A.L. 1990 H.B. 1416,
A.L. 1996 H.B. 811, A.L. 2008 S.B. 1139)
1996
1996
58.720. 1. When any person dies within a county having a medical
examiner as a result of:
(1) Violence by homicide, suicide, or accident;
(2) Thermal, chemical, electrical, or radiation injury;
(3) Criminal abortions, including those self-induced;
(4) Disease thought to be of a hazardous and contagious nature or
which might constitute a threat to public health; or when any person dies:
(a) Suddenly when in apparent good health;
(b) When unattended by a physician, chiropractor, or an accredited
Christian Science practitioner, during the period of thirty-six hours
immediately preceding his death;
(c) While in the custody of the law, or while an inmate in a public
institution;
(d) In any unusual or suspicious manner;
the police, sheriff, law enforcement officer or official, or any person
having knowledge of such a death shall immediately notify the office of the
medical examiner of the known facts concerning the time, place, manner and
circumstances of the death.
Immediately upon receipt of notification, the medical examiner or his
designated assistant shall take charge of the dead body and fully
investigate the essential facts concerning the medical causes of death. He
may take the names and addresses of witnesses to the death and shall file
this information in his office. The medical examiner or his designated
assistant shall take possession of all property of value found on the body,
making exact inventory thereof on his report and shall direct the return of
such property to the person entitled to its custody or possession. The
medical examiner or his designated assistant examiner shall take possession
of any object or article which, in his opinion, may be useful in
establishing the cause of death, and deliver it to the prosecuting attorney
of the county.
2. When a death occurs outside a licensed health care facility, the
first licensed medical professional or law enforcement official learning of
such death shall contact the county medical examiner. Immediately upon
receipt of such notification, the medical examiner or the medical
examiner's deputy shall make a determination if further investigation is
necessary, based on information provided by the individual contacting the
medical examiner, and immediately advise such individual of the medical
examiner's intentions.
3. In any case of sudden, violent or suspicious death after which the
body was buried without any investigation or autopsy, the medical examiner,
upon being advised of such facts, may at his own discretion request that
the prosecuting attorney apply for a court order requiring the body to be
exhumed.
4. The medical examiner shall certify the cause of death in any case
where death occurred without medical attendance or where an attending
physician refuses to sign a certificate of death, and may sign a
certificate of death in the case of any death.
5. When the cause of death is established by the medical examiner, he
shall file a copy of his findings in his office within thirty days after
notification of the death.
6. When a person is being transferred from one county to another
county for medical treatment and such person dies while being transferred,
the county from which the person is first removed shall be considered the
place of death and the medical examiner of the county from which the person
was being transferred shall be responsible for the certificate of death and
for investigating the cause and manner of the death. If the coroner or
medical examiner in the county in which the person died believes that
further investigation is warranted and a postmortem examination is needed,
such coroner or medical examiner shall have the right to further
investigate and perform the postmortem examination at the expense of such
coroner or medical examiner and shall be responsible for the certificate of
death and for investigating the cause and manner of the death. Such
coroner or medical examiner shall immediately notify the coroner or medical
examiner of the county from which the person was being transferred of the
death of such person and after an investigation is completed shall notify
such coroner or medical examiner of his findings. If a person does not die
while being transferred and is institutionalized after such transfer and
subsequently dies while in such institution, the coroner or medical
examiner of the county in which the person dies shall immediately notify
the coroner or medical examiner of the county from which such person was
transferred of the death of such person. In such cases, the county in
which the deceased was institutionalized shall be considered the place of
death.
7. Except as provided in subsection 6 of this section, if a person
dies in one county and his body is subsequently transferred to another
county, the county coroner or medical examiner where the death occurred
shall be responsible for the certificate of death and for investigating the
cause and manner of the death.
8. In performing his duties, the coroner or medical examiner shall
make reasonable efforts to accommodate organ donation.
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