Section 41-61-77 - Central office for Mississippi Forensics Laboratory and State Medical Examiner; use of private facilities for investigating deaths; personnel; pathologists(1) The Department of Public Safety shall establish and maintain a central office for the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory and the State Medical Examiner with appropriate facilities and personnel for postmortem medicolegal examinations. District offices, with appropriate facilities and personnel, may also be established and maintained if considered necessary by the department for the proper management of postmortem examinations. The facilities of the central and district offices and their staff services may be available to the medical examiners and designated pathologists in their investigations.
(2) In order to provide proper facilities for investigating deaths as authorized in Sections 41-61-51 through 41-61-79, the State Medical Examiner may arrange for the use of existing public or private laboratory facilities. The State Medical Examiner may contract with qualified persons to perform or to provide support services for autopsies, studies and investigations not inconsistent with other applicable laws. Such laboratory facilities may be located at the University of Mississippi Medical Center or any other suitable location. The State Medical Examiner may be an affiliate or regular faculty member of the Department of Pathology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and may serve as a member of the faculty of other institutions of higher learning. He shall be authorized to employ, with the approval of the Commissioner of Public Safety, such additional scientific, technical, administrative and clerical assistants as are necessary for performance of his duties. Such employees in the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory and the Office of the State Medical Examiner shall be subject to the rules, regulations and policies of the Mississippi State Personnel Board in their employment.(3) The State Medical Examiner shall be authorized to employ qualified pathologists as deputy state medical examiners as are necessary to carry out the duties of his office. The deputy state medical examiners shall be licensed to practice medicine and, either board-certified in forensic pathology by the American Board of Pathology or be a physician who is board certified in anatomic pathology by the American Board of Pathology. The State Medical Examiner may delegate specific duties to competent and qualified medical examiners within the scope of the express authority granted to him by law or regulation. Employees of the Office of the State Medical Examiner shall have the authority to enter any political subdivisions of this state for the purpose of carrying out medical investigations.Laws, 1986, ch. 459, § 19; Laws, 1989, ch. 455, § 1; Laws, 2010, ch. 436, § 3; Laws, 2011, ch. 499, § 7, eff. 7/1/2011.Amended by Laws, 2022, ch. 479, SB 2543,§ 5, eff. 7/1/2022.Amended by Laws, 2021, ch. 403, HB 974,§ 12, eff. 7/1/2021.Amended by Laws, 2019, ch. 310, SB 2161,§ 3, eff. 3/14/2019.Amended by Laws, 2015, ch. 452, SB 2159, 4, eff. 7/1/2015.