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383E.43 INVESTIGATIONS AND INQUESTS.
    Subdivision 1. Deaths requiring inquests and investigations. The coroner and sheriff
shall investigate all human deaths of the following types, and the coroner may conduct inquests
in all human deaths of the following types:
(1) violent deaths, whether apparently homicidal, suicidal, or accidental, including but
not limited to deaths due to thermal, chemical, electrical, or radiational injury, and deaths due
to criminal abortion, whether apparently self-induced or not;
(2) deaths under unusual or mysterious circumstances;
(3) deaths of persons whose bodies are to be cremated, dissected, buried at sea, or otherwise
disposed of so that the bodies will later be unavailable for examination; and
(4) deaths of inmates of public institutions who are not hospitalized for organic disease and
whose deaths are not of any type referred to in clause (1) or (2).
    Subd. 2. Violent or mysterious deaths; autopsies. The coroner may conduct an autopsy
in the case of any human death referred to in subdivision 1, clause (1) or (2), when the coroner
judges that the public interest requires an autopsy.
    Subd. 3. Other deaths; autopsies; exhumation; consent. The coroner may conduct an
autopsy in the case of any human death referred to in subdivision 1, clause (3) or (4), or may
exhume any human body and perform an autopsy on it in the case of any human death referred
to in subdivision 2 when the coroner judges that the public interest requires an autopsy. No
autopsy shall be conducted unless the surviving spouse, or next of kin if there is no surviving
spouse, consents to it, or the district court of the county where the body is located or buried, upon
notice as the court directs, enters an order authorizing an autopsy or an exhumation and autopsy.
Application for an order may be made by the coroner or by the county attorney of the county
where the body is located or buried, upon a showing that the court deems appropriate.
    Subd. 4. Assistance of medical specialists. If during an investigation the coroner believes the
assistance of pathologists, toxicologists, deputy coroners, laboratory technicians, or other medical
experts is necessary to determine the cause of death, the coroner shall obtain their assistance.
    Subd. 5. Inquest. The record and report of the inquest proceedings may not be used in
evidence in any civil action arising out of the death for which an inquest was ordered. Before an
inquest is held, the coroner shall notify the county attorney. The county attorney shall examine
witnesses at the inquest.
    Subd. 6. Records. The coroner shall keep properly indexed records giving the name, if
known, of every person whose death is investigated, the place where the body was found, the
date, cause, and manner of death, and all other relevant information concerning the death.
    Subd. 7. Reports. (a) Deaths of the types described in this section must be promptly reported
for investigation to the coroner by the law enforcement officer, attending physician, mortician,
person in charge of the public institutions referred to in subdivision 1, or other person with
knowledge of the death.
(b) For the purposes of this section, health-related records or data on a decedent, except
health data defined in section 13.3805, subdivision 1, whose death is being investigated under this
section, whether the records or data are recorded or unrecorded, including but not limited to those
concerning medical, surgical, psychiatric, psychological, or any other consultation, diagnosis, or
treatment, including medical imaging, shall be made promptly available to the coroner, upon the
coroner's written request, by a person having custody of, possession of, access to, or knowledge
of the records or data. The coroner shall pay for reasonable costs of copies of records or data
provided to the coroner under this section. Data collected or created pursuant to this subdivision
relating to any psychiatric, psychological, or mental health consultation with, diagnosis of, or
treatment of the decedent whose death is being investigate shall remain confidential or protected
nonpublic data, except that the coroner's report may contain a summary of such data.
    Subd. 8. Coroner in charge of body. Upon notification of a death subject to this section, the
coroner or deputy coroner shall proceed to the body, take charge of it, and, when necessary, order
that there be no interference with the body or the scene of death. Investigation shall be conducted
concurrently by the coroner or deputy coroner and the sheriff.
    Subd. 9. Criminal act report. On coming to believe that the death may have resulted
from a criminal act, the coroner or assistant coroner shall deliver a signed copy of the report of
investigation or inquest to the county attorney.
    Subd. 10. Sudden infant death. If a child under the age of two years dies suddenly and
unexpectedly under circumstances indicating that the death may have been caused by sudden
infant death syndrome, the coroner or personal physician shall notify the child's parents or
guardian that an autopsy is essential to establish the cause of death as sudden infant death
syndrome. If an autopsy reveals that sudden infant death syndrome is the cause of death, that fact
must be stated in the autopsy report. The parents or guardian of the child shall be promptly
notified of the cause of death and of the availability of counseling services.
    Subd. 11. Autopsy fees. The coroner may charge a reasonable fee to a person requesting an
autopsy if the autopsy would not otherwise be conducted under subdivision 1, 2, or 3.
    Subd. 12. Authorized removal of the brain. If the coroner is informed by a physician or
pathologist that a dead person is suspected of having had Alzheimer's disease, the coroner shall
authorize the removal of the brain of the dead person for the purposes of sections 145.131 and
145.132.
History: 1993 c 16 s 4; 1999 c 227 s 22; 2005 c 28 s 1

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Revisor of Statutes