§ 3-3014

Autopsy to be performed by licensed physician; costs; reports. Any medical examination or autopsy conducted pursuant to this Division shall be performed by a physician duly licensed to practice medicine in all of its branches, and wherever possible by one having special training in pathology. In Class I counties, medical examinations or autopsies (including those performed on exhumed bodies) shall be performed by physicians appointed or designated by the coroner, and in Class II counties by physicians appointed or designated by the Director of Public Health upon the recommendation of the advisory board on necropsy service to coroners after the board has consulted with the elected coroner. Any autopsy performed by a physician so appointed or designated shall be deemed lawful. The cost of all autopsies, medical examinations, laboratory fees, if any, and travel expenses of the examining physician and the costs of exhuming a body under the authority of subsection (c) of Section 3-3015 shall be payable from the general fund of the county where the body is found. The examining physician shall file copies of the reports or results of his or her autopsies and medical examinations with the coroner and also with the Department of Public Health. No coroner may perform any autopsy required or authorized by law unless the coroner is a pathologist whose services are requested by the coroner of another county.

Legislative History

(Source: P.A. 86-962; 87-317.)