Who decides if there will be an autopsy?

Q. Who decides if there will be an autopsy?

A. This depends on who the person was and the circumstances surrounding the death. In Maryland, an individual dying as a result of a homicide, poisoning, suicide, criminal abortion, rape, therapeutic misadventure or drowning, or who died in a suspicious or unusual manner, or who died while apparently healthy, or who is dead on arrival at the hospital will be examined by the medical examiner in the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore.

In the case of a firefighter who dies in the line of duty, or a person who suffers a fire-related death, the medical examiner must conduct an autopsy. If the person died in a state-funded or state-operated facility, and the death appears unusual or suspicious in nature, the death shall be investigated by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

By contrast, a state-licensed physician or hospital pathologist may perform an autopsy, with permission from the family, on “non-medical examiner cases” such as a stillbirth or neonatal death, a hospital death in which the cause of death has been established by a hospital physician and is due to disease, or when a person is dead upon arrival but the physician who pronounces death has previously treated the patient.

Finally, when the person has a family doctor and dies from a natural cause such as from disease, the family or hospital doctor can complete the death certificate and an autopsy may not be necessary.

Source: Andrew G. Slutkin and Jamison G. White specialize in medical malpractice and catastrophic injury law with Silverman, Thompson, Slutkin & White in Baltimore. They can be reached at www.mdattorney.com.

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