26:6B-10 Criteria for conduct of a medicolegal investigation of a death.

10. a. A medical examiner shall conduct a medicolegal investigation of a death in this State, as determined to be necessary to establish identity and the cause and manner of death, and to resolve any issues or potential issues of public health and of legal concern, in accordance with rules and regulations adopted by the Chief State Medical Examiner, in any of the following instances:

(1) death where criminal violence appears to have taken place, regardless of the time interval between the incident and death, and regardless of whether the violence appears to have been the immediate cause of death, or a contributory factor thereto;

(2) death by accident or unintentional injury, regardless of the time interval between the incident and death, and regardless of whether the injury appears to have been the immediate cause of death, or a contributory factor thereto;

(3) death under suspicious or unusual circumstances;

(4) death from causes that might constitute a threat to public health or safety;

(5) death not caused by readily recognizable diseases, disability, or infirmity;

(6) sudden death when the decedent was in apparent good health;

(7) suicide;

(8) death of a child under 18 years of age from any cause;

(9) sudden or unexpected death of an infant or child under three years of age or a fetal death occurring without medical attendance;

(10) death where suspicion of abuse of a child, family or household member, or elderly or disabled person exists;

(11) death within 24 hours of admission to a hospital or a nursing home;

(12) death in custody, in a jail or correctional facility, or in a State or county psychiatric hospital, State developmental center, or other public or private institution or facility for persons with mental illness, developmental disabilities, or brain injury;

(13) death related to occupational illness or injury;

(14) death due to thermal, chemical, electrical, or radiation injury;

(15) death due to toxins, poisons, medicinal or recreational drugs, or a combination thereof;

(16) known or suspected non-natural death;

(17) any person found dead under unexplained circumstances;

(18) the discovery of skeletal remains;

(19) death for which investigation is in the public interest; or

(20) a death occurring under such other circumstances as prescribed by regulation of the Chief State Medical Examiner.

b. For a death that occurs, or appears to have occurred, for any of the reasons specified in subsection a. of this section:

(1) It shall be the duty of any member of the general public having knowledge of the death to notify immediately the local law enforcement agency of the known facts concerning the time, place, manner, and circumstances of that death;

(2) It shall be the duty of any attending physician, licensed nurse, hospital administrator, law enforcement officer, Department of Children and Families staff member, or funeral director to notify immediately the county or intercounty medical examiner of the known facts concerning the time, place, manner, and circumstances of that death; and

(3) A person who willfully neglects or refuses to report the death, or who, without an order from the office of the county or intercounty medical examiner or the Office of the Chief State Medical Examiner, willfully touches, removes, or disturbs the decedent's body or touches, removes, or disturbs the clothing upon or near the body, is guilty of a crime of the fourth degree.

c. In addition to the rules and regulations adopted by the Chief State Medical Examiner establishing uniform procedures for conducting medicolegal death investigations, the procedures concerning the death investigation process as set forth in this subsection shall be followed by the persons specified herein.

(1) Upon the death of a person from any of the causes specified in subsection a. of this section, it shall be the duty of the physician in attendance, a law enforcement officer having knowledge of the death, the funeral director, or any other person present, to immediately notify the county or intercounty medical examiner and the county prosecutor of the county in which the death occurred of the known facts concerning the time, place, manner, and circumstances of that death. Upon receipt of that notification, the county or intercounty medical examiner, or an assistant county or intercounty medical examiner, or a medicolegal death investigator shall immediately proceed to the place where the dead body is located and take charge of the body. A medicolegal death investigator who engages in the investigation of deaths pursuant to this subsection shall obtain certification from the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators within three years after the effective date of this act, or within three years after the person first takes action under this paragraph, whichever is later.

(2) In cases of apparent homicide or suicide, or of accidental death, the cause of which is obscure, the scene of the event shall not be disturbed until the medical examiner or medicolegal death investigator in charge provides authorization to do so.

(3) (a) The medical examiner or medicolegal death investigator, as the case may be, shall: fully investigate the essential facts concerning the medical causes of death and take the names and addresses of as many witnesses thereto as may be practicable to obtain; before leaving the premises, reduce those facts, as the medical examiner may deem necessary, to writing; file those facts in the office of the county or intercounty medical examiner; and make the facts available to the county prosecutor and the Chief State Medical Examiner at their request.

(b) The law enforcement officer present at the investigation, or the medical examiner or medicolegal death investigator if no officer is present, shall, in the absence of the next-of-kin of the deceased person: take possession of all property of value found on the decedent; make an exact inventory thereof on his report; and deliver the property to the law enforcement agency for the municipality in which the death occurred, which shall surrender the property to the person entitled to its custody or possession.

(c) The medical examiner or medicolegal death investigator, as the case may be, shall take possession of any objects or articles that, in his opinion, may be useful in establishing the cause or manner of death, or which constitute evidence of criminal behavior, and, after cataloging each item, deliver them to the county prosecutor.

(4) The Chief State Medical Examiner, Deputy Chief State Medical Examiner, county or intercounty medical examiner, assistant county or intercounty medical examiner, or medicolegal death investigator shall consult with law enforcement officers and agencies, county prosecutors, public health agencies, or other appropriate entities in matters within their expertise, when conducting a medicolegal death investigation. The medical examiner or medicolegal death investigator, as the case may be, shall be provided with an Originating Agency Identification Number, and access to the State's motor vehicle registries and fingerprint registries, for the purposes of identifying the remains of a deceased individual under this section.

(5) If the cause of death is established within a reasonable degree of medical certainty and no autopsy is deemed necessary, the county or intercounty medical examiner, assistant county or intercounty medical examiner, or medicolegal death investigator, as the case may be, shall reduce the findings to writing and promptly make a full report thereof to the Chief State Medical Examiner and to the county prosecutor in a format to be prescribed by the Chief State Medical Examiner for that purpose.

(6) If, in the opinion of the county or intercounty medical examiner, the Chief State Medical Examiner, an assignment judge of the Superior Court, the county prosecutor, the Attorney General, or the commissioner, an autopsy is deemed necessary, the autopsy shall be performed by:

(a) the county or intercounty medical examiner or assistant county or intercounty medical examiner, provided the individual performing the autopsy is under the supervision of a pathologist certified by the American Board of Pathology or the American Osteopathic Board of Pathology;

(b) the Chief State Medical Examiner, at his discretion, or the Deputy Chief State Medical Examiner; or

(c) such competent forensic pathologists as may be authorized by the Chief State Medical Examiner.

(7) If, in any case in which the suspected cause of death of a child under one year of age is sudden infant death syndrome, or the child is between one and three years of age and the death is sudden and unexpected, and an investigation has been conducted in accordance with the provisions of this section, and a parent or legal guardian of the child requests an autopsy, an autopsy shall be performed by: the county or intercounty medical examiner or assistant county or intercounty medical examiner, provided the individual performing the autopsy is under the supervision of a pathologist certified by the American Board of Pathology or the American Osteopathic Board of Pathology; or the Chief State Medical Examiner, at his discretion, or the Deputy Chief State Medical Examiner.

(a) The medical examiner performing the autopsy shall file a detailed description of the findings and conclusions of the autopsy with the Office of the Chief State Medical Examiner, and with the appropriate county or intercounty medical examiner office and the county prosecutor.

(b) Upon the request of a parent or legal guardian of the child, a pediatric pathologist, if available, shall assist in the performance of the autopsy under the direction of a forensic pathologist. The Chief State Medical Examiner or county or intercounty medical examiner shall notify the parent or legal guardian of the child that they may request that a pediatric pathologist assist in the performance of the autopsy. The medical examiner shall include any findings and conclusions by the pathologist from the autopsy with the information filed with the Office of the Chief State Medical Examiner, and with the appropriate county or intercounty medical examiner office and the county prosecutor, pursuant to subparagraph (a) of this paragraph. The Chief State Medical Examiner or the county or intercounty medical examiner shall make available a copy of these findings and conclusions to the closest surviving relative of the decedent within 120 days of the receipt of a request therefor, unless the death is under active investigation by a law enforcement agency.

(c) The medical examiner with jurisdiction for the investigation shall make the preliminary findings and conclusions of the autopsy available to the child's parent or legal guardian and the department within 48 hours after the medical examiner is notified of the death of the child. The medical examiner shall provide his findings and conclusions for each reported case to the department upon completion of the investigation.

(8) Notwithstanding the provisions of this act to the contrary, a county or intercounty medical examiner may request the Chief State Medical Examiner or Deputy Chief State Medical Examiner, or other person authorized and designated by the Chief State Medical Examiner, to conduct an examination or perform an autopsy whenever it is deemed necessary or desirable.

(9) In the case of the death of a resident of a long-term care facility licensed by the Department of Health pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.), a State psychiatric hospital operated by the Department of Health and listed in R.S.30:1-7, a county psychiatric hospital, a facility for persons with developmental disabilities as defined in section 3 of P.L.1977, c.82 (C.30:6D-3), or a facility for persons with traumatic brain injury as defined in 42 U.S.C. s.280b-1c that is operated by or under contract with the Department of Human Services, the psychiatric hospital or facility, as the case may be, shall, in addition to notifying the next-of-kin of the resident's death, so notify the county or intercounty medical examiner and provide that individual with contact information for the resident's next-of-kin. The county or intercounty medical examiner, or assistant county or intercounty medical examiner on his behalf, shall make every practicable effort to contact the resident's next-of-kin to offer that person the opportunity to provide the medical examiner with information that the person deems relevant to: the circumstances of the resident's death; and whether there is a need to perform a dissection or autopsy of the decedent.

d. Upon the request of a decedent's legal representative, or upon the request of the person who, pursuant to section 22 of P.L.2003, c.261 (C.45:27-22), is in control of the decedent's funeral, the Chief State Medical Examiner shall provide the legal representative or person in control of the funeral with all available documentation related to the decedent's autopsy and the medical investigation of the decedent's death.

L.2018, c.62, s.10.