All violent deaths, including homicidal, suicidal and accidental, all deaths due to thermal, chemical, electrical or radiational injury, deaths due to criminal abortion, including those self-induced, all sudden deaths of persons not disabled by recognizable diseases, all deaths of nonautopsied persons to be cremated, and all deaths of persons confined in jails or other public institutions, occurring in the county shall be promptly reported for investigation to the county medical examiner by the law enforcement officer, attending physicians, mortician, person in charge of the public institution or jail, or other person having knowledge of them. Deaths occurring in public hospitals, sanitariums, convalescent and nursing homes are not required to be reported to the examiner, unless the deaths occur as described in this subdivision. All sudden or unexpected deaths and all deaths which may be due entirely, or in part, to any factor other than natural disease must be reported to the medical examiner for evaluation. No person, other than the medical examiner, shall issue a certificate of death in cases of accidental, suicidal, violent, or mysterious deaths, including suspected homicides, occurring in the county.
Any person violating the order of the examiner is guilty of a misdemeanor.
The examiner or the examiner's designee shall make inquiry regarding the cause and manner of death and , in cases that fall under the medical examiner's jurisdiction, prepare written findings together with the report of death and its circumstances, which shall be filed in the office of the examiner. When it appears that death may have resulted from a criminal act and that further investigation is advisable, a copy of the report shall be transmitted to the county attorney. The examiner may take possession of any or all property of the deceased, mark it for identification, and make an inventory. The examiner shall take possession of all articles useful in establishing the cause of death, mark them for identification and retain them securely until they are no longer needed for evidence or investigation. The examiner shall release any property or articles needed for any criminal investigation to law enforcement officers conducting the investigation.