N.J. Admin. Code § 8:70-5.1

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 21, November 4, 2024

Section 8:70-5.1 - Death investigations; conduct

(a) It shall be the responsibility of the county medical examiners to have a legally authorized physician medical examiner on duty and available at all times to investigate deaths occurring within the jurisdiction of such county or counties.

(b) The duty medical examiner shall require a proper determination of death prior to assuming responsibility for the death investigation.

(c) The duty medical examiner shall take complete charge of every body whose death is reported to the office, and shall not release it to the next of kin or authorized representative for burial or cremation until sufficient information has been accumulated, proper specimens and evidence have been collected as needed, and appropriate examinations have been conducted to establish the cause and manner of death and the identity of the decedent.

1. In cases of suspected criminal homicide, the medical examiner shall coordinate with the county prosecutor or Attorney General the removal of the body from the scene of death and shall not order the removal of the body from said scene until such coordination has been accomplished.

(d) It shall be the responsibility of the physician medical examiner to require and obtain all pertinent information from the scene of violent, suspicious, unexpected, and unusual deaths, regardless of personal visitations, in every such death investigation conducted by the office, and to incorporate that information citing the source into the permanent records of the Office.

(e) The office of the county medical examiner shall be required to inspect the scene of homicidal, unusual or suspicious deaths, decomposed bodies or unwitnessed and unexpected deaths which are reportable to the office, when the body still lies there.

1. The physician medical examiner shall not refuse to inspect the scene when requested by the State Medical Examiner or by the county prosecutor or assistant prosecutor.

i. A detailed record of the observations and an inventory of any items collected shall be personally prepared by the medical examiner or medical investigator as a separate report filed with the office.

ii. All items collected and all reports shall be identified by name of decedent if known, date, time, and county medical examiner case number.

iii. Receipts shall be required for all evidence, specimens, and property removed from the custody of the medical examiner's office.

iv. Recovery of physical evidence from the scene of suspected criminal homicides shall be the responsibility of the prosecutor.

(f) It shall be the responsibility of the medical examiner to obtain information from first hand witnesses whenever possible, taking the names of these sources and recording the information in a report filed with the office.

1. Police reports and other agency reports may supplement the medical examiner's own investigation, and shall be obtained whenever necessary to complete the case interpretation.

2. Subsequent additional information shall be recorded with date and time and filed with the case record.

3. In criminal homicide investigations, witnesses and potential suspects shall be interviewed by law enforcement personnel, and the medical examiner shall coordinate with the prosecutor to obtain the information that is required as part of the medical death investigation.

(g) Whenever the county medical examiner, or the person designated by the State Medical Examiner or county medical examiner to perform autopsies in a county, conducts an autopsy pursuant to N.J.S.A. 52:17B-88et seq. on a decedent who has been treated in a hospital following an incident of external violence, the examiner shall obtain from the hospital any specimens that may have been obtained or removed from the decedent for analysis during the course of diagnosis or treatment where death has occurred within 48 hours of the incident suspected of being the proximate cause of death.

(h) The physician medical examiner shall not delegate to any lay medical investigator any task or function for which the lay medical investigator has not been trained or for which the lay medical investigator is not qualified. The collection of specialized medical information is the responsibility of medically trained personnel.

(i) The responsibility of the medical examiner to investigate the medical cause of death as set forth in this subchapter, shall also oblige him to cooperate and coordinate with the county prosecutor in the conduct of a criminal investigation.

N.J. Admin. Code § 8:70-5.1

R.1983 d.589, effective 12/19/1983.
See: 15 N.J.R. 1351(a), 15 N.J.R. 2172(d).
Amended by R.1989 d.110, effective 2/21/1989.
See: 20 N.J.R. 2856(b), 21 N.J.R. 447(a).
Substantially amended.
Amended by R.1994 d.30, effective 1/18/1994.
See: 25 N.J.R. 5104(a), 26 N.J.R. 484(a).