Mississippi Code 1972 (2023) › Title 41 - PUBLIC HEALTH (§§ 41-1-1 — 41-149-NEW-003) › Chapter 61 - STATE MEDICAL EXAMINER (§§ 41-61-1 — 41-61-79) › MISSISSIPPI MEDICAL EXAMINER ACT OF 1986 (§§ 41-61-51 — 41-61-79) › Section 41-61-59 - Report of death to medical examiner; investigation of death; remote testimony by employees of Mississippi Forensics Laboratory and Office of Medical Examiner permitted; compensation of chief medical examiner or investigator

(1)
A person's death that affects the public interest as specified in subsection (2) of this section shall be promptly reported to the medical examiner by the physician in attendance, any hospital employee, any law enforcement officer having knowledge of the death, the embalmer or other funeral home employee, any emergency medical technician, any relative or any other person present. The appropriate medical examiner shall notify the municipal or state law enforcement agency or sheriff and take charge of the body. When the medical examiner has received notification under Section
41-39-15(6)
that the deceased is medically suitable to be an organ and/or tissue donor, the medical examiner's authority over the body shall be subject to the provisions of Section
41-39-15(6)
. The appropriate medical examiner shall notify the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics within twenty-four (24) hours of receipt of the body in cases of death as described in subsection (2)(m) or (n) of this section.
(2)
A death affecting the public interest includes, but is not limited to, any of the following:
(a)
Violent death, including homicidal, suicidal or accidental death.
(b)
Death caused by thermal, chemical, electrical or radiation injury.
(c)
Death caused by criminal abortion, including self-induced abortion, or abortion related to or by sexual abuse.
(d)
Death related to disease thought to be virulent or contagious that may constitute a public hazard.
(e)
Death that has occurred unexpectedly or from an unexplained cause.
(f)
Death of a person confined in a prison, jail or correctional institution.
(g)
Death of a person where a physician was not in attendance within thirty-six (36) hours preceding death, or in prediagnosed terminal or bedfast cases, within thirty (30) days preceding death.
(h)
Death of a person where the body is not claimed by a relative or a friend.
(i)
Death of a person where the identity of the deceased is unknown.
(j)
Death of a child under the age of two (2) years where death results from an unknown cause or where the circumstances surrounding the death indicate that sudden infant death syndrome may be the cause of death.
(k)
Where a body is brought into this state for disposal and there is reason to believe either that the death was not investigated properly or that there is not an adequate certificate of death.
(l)
Where a person is presented to a hospital emergency room unconscious and/or unresponsive, with cardiopulmonary resuscitative measures being performed, and dies within twenty-four (24) hours of admission without regaining consciousness or responsiveness, unless a physician was in attendance within thirty-six (36) hours preceding presentation to the hospital, or in cases in which the decedent had a prediagnosed terminal or bedfast condition, unless a physician was in attendance within thirty (30) days preceding presentation to the hospital.
(m)
Death that is caused by drug overdose or which is believed to be caused by drug overdose.
(n)
When a stillborn fetus is delivered and the cause of the demise is medically believed to be from the use by the mother of any controlled substance as defined in Section
41-29-105
.
(o)
Death of any person under the age of eighteen (18).
(3)
The State Medical Examiner is empowered to investigate deaths, under the authority hereinafter conferred, in any and all political subdivisions of the state. The county medical examiners and county medical examiner investigators, while appointed for a specific county, may serve other counties on a regular basis with written authorization by the State Medical Examiner, or may serve other counties on an as-needed basis upon the request of the ranking officer of the investigating law enforcement agency. If a death affecting the public interest takes place in a county other than the one where injuries or other substantial causal factors leading to the death have occurred, jurisdiction for investigation of the death may be transferred, by mutual agreement of the respective medical examiners of the counties involved, to the county where the injuries or other substantial causal factors occurred, and the costs of autopsy or other studies necessary to the further investigation of the death shall be borne by the county assuming jurisdiction.
(4)
(a)
In criminal trials where the testimony of a current or former State Medical Examiner, Deputy State Medical Examiner, or member of the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory is needed, the use of audiovisual communications equipment to present such testimony remotely is allowed when the state has provided written notice to the defendant at least ninety (90) days prior to trial of its intent to present such remote testimony, and the defendant provides no written objection within fourteen (14) days of receiving such notice. Should the defendant object, the remote testimony shall only be permitted upon a finding by the court that the rights of the defendant to confront the witness against the defendant is not violated, that compelling circumstances exist to allow such remote testimony, and that the remote testimony can be provided with appropriate safeguards so as to assure the reliability of the testimony of the witness during the trial.
(b)
All persons qualified to administer an oath in the State of Mississippi may swear a witness remotely by audiovisual communication technology, provided they can positively identify the witness and they are able to both see and hear the witness via audiovisual communications equipment.
(5)
The chief county medical examiner or chief county medical examiner investigator may receive from the county in which he serves a salary of One Thousand Two Hundred Fifty Dollars ($1,250.00) per month, in addition to the fees specified in Sections
41-61-69
and
41-61-75
, provided that no county shall pay the chief county medical examiner or chief county medical examiner investigator less than Three Hundred Dollars ($300.00) per month as a salary, in addition to other compensation provided by law. In any county having one or more deputy medical examiners or deputy medical examiner investigators, each deputy may receive from the county in which he serves, in the discretion of the board of supervisors, a salary of not more than Nine Hundred Dollars ($900.00) per month, in addition to the fees specified in Sections
41-61-69
and
41-61-75
; however, no county shall pay the deputy medical examiners or deputy medical examiner investigators less than Three Hundred Dollars ($300.00) per month as a salary in addition to other compensation provided by law. For this salary the chief shall assure twenty-four-hour daily and readily available death investigators for the county, and shall maintain copies of all medical examiner death investigations for the county for at least the previous five (5) years. He shall coordinate his office and duties and cooperate with the State Medical Examiner, and the State Medical Examiner shall cooperate with him.
Laws, 1986, ch. 459, § 10; Laws, 1987, ch. 504; Laws, 1989, ch. 455, § 2; Laws, 1990, ch. 453, § 2; Laws, 1991, ch. 591, § 1; Laws, 1993, ch. 411, § 1; Laws, 1998, ch. 567, § 1; Laws, 2003, ch. 548, § 1; Laws, 2004, ch. 505, § 5; Laws, 2005, ch. 472, § 3; Laws, 2010, ch. 436, § 2; Laws, 2011, ch. 499, § 3, eff. 7/1/2011.
Amended by Laws, 2024, ch. 441, HB 1068,§ 1, eff. 7/1/2024.
Amended by Laws, 2022, ch. 479, SB 2543,§ 4, eff. 7/1/2022.
Amended without change by Laws, 2022, ch. 497, HB 719,§ 8, eff. 7/1/2022.
Amended by Laws, 2019, ch. 485, SB 2827,§ 9, eff. 1/1/2020.