New Mexico Administrative Code › Title 7 - HEALTH › Chapter 3 - STATE MEDICAL INVESTIGATOR'S OFFICE › Part 2 - POLICIES OF THE OFFICE OF THE MEDICAL INVESTIGATOR › Section 7.3.2.12 - INVESTIGATION - EXAMINATION

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 13, July 16, 2024
A.
				Citations and Regulations:
(1)
										24-11-7
				NMSA 1978: If the deceased is unidentified, the state, district or deputy
				medical investigator may order the body fingerprinted and photographed. When
				the state, district or deputy medical investigator suspects a death was caused
				by a criminal act or omission or if the cause of death is obscure, he shall
				order an autopsy performed by a qualified pathologist certified by the state
				board of medical examiners who shall record every fact found in the examination
				tending to show the identity and condition of the body and the time, manner and
				cause of death. The pathologist shall sign the report under oath and deliver it
				to the state, district or deputy medical investigator within a reasonable time.
				The state, district or deputy medical investigator may take the testimony of
				the pathologist and any other persons, and this testimony, combined with the
				written report of the pathologist, constitutes an inquest.
(2)
										24-12-4
				NMSA 1978:
(a) An autopsy or postmortem
				examination may be performed on the body of a deceased person by a physician or
				surgeon whenever consent to the procedure has been given:
(i) by written authorization signed by the
				deceased during his lifetime;
(ii)
				by authorization of any person or on behalf of any entity whom the deceased
				designated in writing during his lifetime to take charge of his body for burial
				or other purposes;
(iii) by
				authorization of the deceased's surviving spouse;
(iv) by authorization of an adult child,
				parent or adult brother or sister of the deceased if there is no surviving
				spouse or if the surviving spouse is unavailable, incompetent or has not
				claimed the body for burial after notification of the death of the
				decedent.
(v) by authorization of
				any other relative of the deceased if none of the persons enumerated in
				Paragraphs 2 through 4 [now (ii) through (iv) of Subparagraph (a) or Paragraph
				(2) of Subsection A of 7.3.2.12 NMAC] of this subsection are available or
				competent to give authorization; or
(vi) by authorization of the public official,
				agency or person having custody of the body for burial if none of the persons
				enumerated in Paragraphs 2 through 5 [now (ii) through (v) of Subparagraph (a)
				or Paragraph (2) of Subsection A of 7.3.2.12 NMAC] of this subsection are
				available or competent to give authorization.
(b) An autopsy or postmortem examination
				shall not be performed under authorization given under the provisions of
				Paragraph 4 of Subsection A [now (iv) of Subparagraph (a) or Paragraph (2) of
				Subsection A of 7.3.2.12 NMAC] of this section by any one of the persons
				enumerated if, before the procedure is performed, any one of the other persons
				enumerated objects in writing to the physician or surgeon by whom the procedure
				is to be performed.
(c) An autopsy
				or postmortem examination may be performed by a pathologist at the written
				direction of the district attorney or his authorized representative in any case
				in which the district attorney is conducting a criminal
				investigation.
(d) An autopsy or
				postmortem examination may be performed by a pathologist at the direction of
				the state, district or deputy medical investigator when he suspects the death
				was caused by a criminal act or omission or if the cause of death is
				obscure.