Bill Text: GA HB50 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Comm Sub

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Death investigations by coroners; notification requirements; provide

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2010-01-11 - Senate Recommitted [HB50 Detail]

Download: Georgia-2009-HB50-Comm_Sub.html

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09 LC 33 2949S

The House Committee on Judiciary Non-civil offers the following substitute to HB 50:

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT

To amend Article 2 of Chapter 16 of Title 45 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to death investigations by coroners, so as to provide for certain notification requirements when a death occurs in a different county than where the acts or events resulting in the death occurred; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:

SECTION 1.

Article 2 of Chapter 16 of Title 45 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to death investigations by coroners, is amended by revising subsection (f) of Code Section 45-16-22, relating to medical examiners' inquiries, as follows:

"(f) When death occurs in a hospital as a direct result and consequence of acts or events taking place in a county other than the one in which such death occurs, the body shall be returned to the county in which such acts or events took place. The hospital shall immediately notify the coroner or the county medical examiner of the county in which the acts or events resulting in the death occurred. When a dead body is found in a county in which the acts or events leading to death did not occur, it shall be returned to the county in which the acts or events did occur, if known. The coroner or local county medical examiner of the county in which such acts or events took place shall assume jurisdiction and the medical examiner's inquiry, if any performed, shall be paid for from funds of the county in which such acts or events took place."

SECTION 2.

Said article is further amended by revising subsection (a) of Code Section 45-16-24, relating to notification of suspicious or unusual deaths, as follows:

"(a) When any person dies in any county in this state:

(1) As a result of violence;

(2) By suicide or casualty;

(3) Suddenly when in apparent good health;

(4) When unattended by a physician;

(5) In any suspicious or unusual manner, with particular attention to those persons 16 years of age and under;

(6) After birth but before seven years of age if the death is unexpected or unexplained;

(7) As a result of an execution carried out pursuant to the imposition of the death penalty under Article 2 of Chapter 10 of Title 17;

(8) When an inmate of a state hospital or a state, county, or city penal institution; or

(9) After having been admitted to a hospital in an unconscious state and without regaining consciousness within 24 hours of admission,

it shall be the duty of any law enforcement officer or other person having knowledge of such death to notify immediately the coroner or county medical examiner of the county wherein in which the acts or events resulting in the death occurred or the body is found or death occurs. For the purposes of this Code section, no person shall be deemed to have died unattended when the death occurred while the person was a patient of a hospice licensed under Article 9 of Chapter 7 of Title 31."

SECTION 3.

All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.