The OCME can return the forms to the appropriate insurance companies with a copy of your reviewed Report of Investigation. There is generally no charge to requesting parties for copies. As a public officer, the ME may, and should upon request, release to the news media the cause and manner of death that is entered on the death certificate and Report of Investigation. This information may be relayed personally by the Medical Examiner or through law enforcement officers. The alcohol test results may also be released.
Homicides are a bit different.
Consult with the appropriate law enforcement agency or District attorney's office concerning what may be released about a suspected homicide, and whether or not you should refer inquiries to them. The staff members at the OCME are available for assistance at any time. When OCME staff are not in the office, after regular work hours and on weekends, a North Carolina Memorial Hospital operator will connect a caller with the on-call OCME Medical Examiner. In certain non-ME deaths, the Medical Examiner's permission is necessary before a body can be cremated or buried at sea. While emergency department deaths are generally considered as not having occurred in the hospital for cremation authorization purposes, they will not require ME permission if the patient is being transferred from another licensed hospital or nursing home at the time of death.