§ 4210 — Deceased persons; right to dissect

New York § 4210

• Jurisdiction: New York
• Law PBH: Public Health
• Title 2: Autopsy and Dissection
• Art. 42: Cadavers

Text

§ 4210. Deceased persons; right to dissect. The right to dissect the\nbody of a deceased person exists in the following cases:\n 1. In the cases prescribed by special statutes; or,\n 2. When the dissection is performed by or at the direction of (a) a\ncoroner who is a physician licensed to practice medicine in this state,\nor (b) a coroner's physician, or (c) a medical examiner of a county, or\nis performed at the direction jointly of a coroner and coroner's\nphysician, and is performed in the course of an investigation within the\njurisdiction of the officer performing or directing the dissection, or\nis performed upon the written request of a district attorney, or\nsheriff, or the chief of a police department of a city or county, or the\nsuperintendent of state police.\n The commissioner shall adopt regulations to establish standard autopsy\nprotocols for any person under the age of one year who dies under\ncircumstances in which death is not anticipated by medical history or\nthe cause is unknown. Such regulations and autopsy protocols shall\ninclude but not be limited to (i) requirements for the performance of\nsuch autopsies, subject to the limitations provided for in section\nforty-two hundred ten-c of this title, and (ii) delineation of specific,\nstandardized methods for such autopsies. In developing and implementing\nsuch regulations and protocols, the commissioner shall consult with\nhealth professionals, families and other persons participating in the\nimplementation of the sudden infant death syndrome program authorized\npursuant to section twenty-five hundred-b of this chapter and at a\nminimum shall consult with an epidemiologist, a forensic pathologist, a\npediatric pathologist, a medical examiner, a county coroner and a\npediatrician with expertise in sudden infant death syndrome; or,\n 2-a. Where a person dies while under care or treatment at a general\nhospital (as defined by subdivision ten of section twenty-eight hundred\none of this chapter) or while recovering from such care or treatment,\nany autopsy report for such person shall be made available, by the\ncoroner or medical examiner under whose jurisdiction the autopsy was\nperformed, in a timely manner, to the hospital, for the purpose of\nongoing performance improvement of such hospital, including for the\npurposes of sections twenty-eight hundred five-j and twenty-eight\nhundred five-k of this chapter. All such reports in the possession of a\nhospital shall be subject to the provisions of section twenty-eight\nhundred five-m of this chapter.\n 3. Whenever and so far as the husband, wife or next of kin of the\ndeceased, being charged by law with the duty of burial, (a) may\nauthorize dissection for the sole purpose of ascertaining the cause of\ndeath, or (b) may authorize dissection for any other purpose by written\ninstrument which shall specify the purpose and extent of the dissection\nso authorized, and when a dissection is so authorized pursuant to this\nsubdivision the person authorizing the dissection also may designate a\nphysician licensed in any state or country to observe such dissection.\nIf the deceased has upon his person an identification card indicating\nhis opposition to the dissection or autopsy of his body no such\ndissection or autopsy shall be performed except as required by law; or,\n 4. Whenever any district attorney in this state, in the discharge of\nhis official duties, shall deem it necessary, he may exhume, take\npossession of, and remove the body of a deceased person, or any portion\nthereof, and submit the same to a proper physical or chemical\nexamination, or analysis, to ascertain the cause of death, and the same\nshall be made on the order of any justice of the supreme court of this\nstate, or the county judge of the county in which such dead body shall\nbe, which order shall be made on the application of the district\nattorney with or without notice to the relatives of the deceased person\nor to any person or corporation having the legal charge of such body, as\nthe court may direct. Said district attorney shall have power to direct\nany police officer or peace officer, acting pursuant to his special\nduties, of this state, or to employ such person, or persons as he may\ndeem necessary to assist him in exhuming, removing, obtaining possession\nof and examining physically or chemically such dead body or any portion\nthereof. The expense therefor shall be a county charge, to be paid by\nthe county treasurer on the certificate of the district attorney.\n 5. When an autopsy of the body is conducted of a deceased human who\nhas epilepsy or a history of seizures it shall include an investigation\nand determinations as to whether the deceased suffered a sudden\nunexpected death in epilepsy. In the event the deceased did suffer a\nsudden, unexpected death in epilepsy, such information shall be noted on\nthe death certificate and be reported to the North American SUDEP\nRegistry.\n