Autopsies

Miss. Code Ann. tit. 41, ch. 37
in effect

Miss. Code Ann. § 41-37-1 “Autopsy” defined.

The term “autopsy” as used in this chapter shall be construed to mean the scientific examination of the body of a deceased person, or any portion thereof, by acceptable scientific methods and the removal and retention of parts of the body to accomplish such an examination. The term “autopsy” as used in this chapter shall not be construed to mean the scientific dissection of the whole body as practiced in medical schools in the instruction of anatomy to medical students.

Miss. Code Ann. § 41-37-3 Purposes for which autopsy may be performed.

An autopsy may be performed, as provided by this chapter, for the purpose of determining the primary and/or contributing cause of death in the interest of public health and in criminal cases.

Miss. Code Ann. § 41-37-5 Who may perform autopsy.

Only a physician duly licensed by the Mississippi State Board of Health may perform an autopsy.

Miss. Code Ann. § 41-37-7 Liability of physician performing autopsy.

A duly licensed physician authorized to perform an autopsy as provided in this chapter, and who, in good faith, complies with the provisions of this chapter in the performance of an autopsy, shall not be liable for damages on account thereof.

Miss. Code Ann. § 41-37-9 Autopsy under court order; procedure.

A circuit judge, chancellor or county judge of the county or district where a person died or where the body of such deceased person may be or where the mortal stroke or other cause of death occurred, may, in his discretion, either in term time or in vacation, order an autopsy to be performed upon the body of such deceased person (1) upon the petition of a county prosecuting attorney of the county where the person died, or where the body of such deceased person may be at the time or where the mortal stroke or other cause of death occurred, or (2) upon petition of the district attorney of the district where the person died, or where the body of such deceased person may be at the time or where the mortal stroke or other cause of death occurred. In the event that said petition is filed by the county prosecuting attorney or district attorney, it shall contain allegations that the petitioner believes, has reason to believe, or suspects that such deceased person came to his death by some criminal means or agency, or that the cause of justice would be promoted by having an autopsy performed upon the body of such deceased person. Said petition shall be sworn to and shall be filed in the court of the judge or chancellor who makes the order, and shall be docketed by the clerk as are other cases or suits. If the body of such deceased person has already been interred, the petition shall so state, and if an autopsy is ordered, the order shall order the disinterment of such body for such autopsy and shall order any lawful officer of the county where said body may be buried to employ suitable help to disinter said body and to keep it in a suitable place until said autopsy shall have been performed. If there has been no interment of the body of such deceased person, a copy of the order ordering an autopsy upon said deceased shall be served by the sheriff of the county, or any other person authorized to serve process, upon any person who may be found in charge of any funeral home where said body may be, and such funeral home shall hold said body for autopsy. If the body of such deceased person be not found in any funeral home the sheriff of the county where it may be found shall take said body and keep it in a suitable place until said autopsy shall have been performed. If an autopsy is ordered as provided in this section, the petitioner shall immediately secure the services of a qualified person to perform such autopsy.

Miss. Code Ann. § 41-37-11 Use of chemical analysis in criminal investigations.

The physician performing the autopsy in criminal investigations may obtain the services of a chemist competent to make a chemical analysis, or such services may be ordered by such judge or chancellor in term time or in vacation. The records of such chemical analysis shall be made a part of the autopsy report.

Miss. Code Ann. § 41-37-13 Autopsy report.

In all cases where an autopsy is performed as provided in Section 41-37-9, the person making said autopsy shall file a report, in duplicate, of said autopsy with the circuit clerk of the county where the death is being investigated. Such circuit clerk shall keep and preserve said report and make it available to the district attorney, county prosecuting attorney, grand jury, coroner, and to the accused.

Miss. Code Ann. § 41-37-15 Fees of physician and chemist.

The physician performing the autopsy shall be paid a fee not exceeding the sum of Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00), which sum shall be paid out of the treasury of the county in the interest of which the autopsy was ordered, upon the allowance and warrant of the board of supervisors of such county. If the physician performing the autopsy is a qualified pathologist, such fee may be increased to Four Hundred Dollars ($400.00). A chemist whose services are used pursuant to Section 41-37-11 may be paid a fee not to exceed Sixty Dollars ($60.00) for such chemical analysis. The fee of said chemist for such analysis shall be paid in like manner as that of the autopsy physician.

Miss. Code Ann. § 41-37-17 Payment of disinterment expenses.

In cases where the disinterment of a body is ordered, the sheriff shall be reimbursed for all expenses incurred by him, which sum shall be paid out of the treasury of the county where the deceased came to his death, upon the allowance and warrant of the board of supervisors of such county. Said board of supervisors shall order payment of the same on the itemized claim of such sheriff.

Miss. Code Ann. § 41-37-19 Admissibility of evidence obtained through autopsy in civil case.

No evidence obtained through any autopsy performed under the provisions of Section 41-37-9 shall be admitted over the objection of any party in the trial of any civil cause before a court or commission of this state.

Miss. Code Ann. § 41-37-21 Physician or chemist may be subpoenaed in criminal case.

The physician performing the autopsy or the chemist performing such analysis in criminal investigations may be subpoenaed as a witness in any such criminal case. If subpoenaed as a prosecution witness, he shall be paid a fee of Fifty Dollars ($50.00) per day as an expert witness for each day while in attendance at the trial, and in addition thereto he shall be paid Seven Cents (7¢) per mile for travel from his home to the location of the trial and return. The fees herein provided for shall be paid to prosecution witnesses as otherwise provided for by law for the payment of such witness fees. If subpoenaed as a witness by the defense, such physician or chemist may collect a fee from the defendant not to exceed that prescribed hereunder for prosecution witnesses.

Miss. Code Ann. § 41-37-23 Autopsy may be ordered on petition of certain health officials.

The executive officer of the Mississippi State Board of Health or a county health officer may petition in like manner as is provided in Section 41-37-9 a circuit judge, chancellor, or county judge in any county in which a person dies or where the body of such deceased person may be, and such circuit judge, chancellor, or county judge may order an autopsy to be performed upon the body of such deceased person in the interest of public health and welfare in cases where the cause of death is not known and cannot be determined with reasonable certainty without an autopsy and when it would appear to such judge or chancellor by such petition and evidence in support thereof that death may have been due to communicable disease or contagious disease or to poison, foreign substance, radiation or for any other reason exact knowledge as to which would be of benefit to the public health and welfare. In such cases the same fees as specified in criminal investigations to the autopsy physician and chemist shall be allowed by the board of supervisors out of the general fund of the county in which such petition is filed, except that no fee shall be allowed and paid to any physician or chemist who is a regular salaried employee of the state or county. A copy of the report of the autopsy physician and chemist in such cases shall be filed with the clerk of the court in which such order was entered, with the county health officer of such county and with the executive officer of the state board of health.

Miss. Code Ann. § 41-37-25 Autopsy may be performed when consent thereto is given.

An autopsy may be performed without court order by a qualified physician when authorized by (a) the decedent, during his lifetime, or (b) any of the following persons who shall have assumed custody of the body for the purpose of burial: a surviving spouse, either parent or any person in loco parentis, a descendant over the age of eighteen years, a guardian, or the next of kin. In the absence of any of the foregoing persons any friend of the deceased who has assumed responsibility for burial, or any other person charged by law with responsibility for burial, may give such consent. If two or more persons have assumed custody of the body of an adult for purposes of burial, the consent of one such person shall be deemed sufficient. In the case of a minor, however, the consent of either parent shall be deemed sufficient, unless the other parent gives written notice to the physician who is to perform the autopsy of such parent’s objection thereto prior to the commencement of the autopsy. In the event that neither parent has legal custody of the minor, the guardian shall have the right to authorize an autopsy. The fees provided in this chapter for autopsies in criminal investigations shall not be applicable to this section. No autopsy shall be held under this section over the objection of the surviving spouse, or if there be no surviving spouse, of any surviving parent, or if there be neither a surviving spouse nor parent, then of any surviving child.

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