Bill Text: MI SB0335 | 2015-2016 | 98th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Criminal procedure; evidence; dead body of unidentified person; require the taking of DNA and fingerprint samples prior to burial or other disposition of the remains. Amends sec. 5 of 1953 PA 181 (MCL 52.205).

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 5-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-05-14 - Referred To Committee On Judiciary [SB0335 Detail]

Download: Michigan-2015-SB0335-Introduced.html

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SENATE BILL No. 335

 

 

May 14, 2015, Introduced by Senators EMMONS, JONES, BOOHER, KNOLLENBERG, NOFS and BIEDA and referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

 

 

 

     A bill to amend 1953 PA 181, entitled

 

"An act relative to investigations in certain instances of the

causes of death within this state due to violence, negligence or

other act or omission of a criminal nature or to protect public

health; to provide for the taking of statements from injured

persons under certain circumstances; to abolish the office of

coroner and to create the office of county medical examiner in

certain counties; to prescribe the powers and duties of county

medical examiners; to prescribe penalties for violations of the

provisions of this act; and to prescribe a referendum thereon,"

 

by amending section 5 (MCL 52.205), as amended by 2010 PA 108.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 5. (1) If a county medical examiner has notice that the

 

body of an individual who may have died in a manner described in

 

section 3 has been found within the county medical examiner's

 

county, the county medical examiner shall take charge of the body.

 

If after examining the body and investigating the cause and manner

 

of the death the county medical examiner considers a further

 

examination necessary, he or she may cause the body to be removed

 

to the public morgue. If the investigation is solely for the reason

 

that the decedent had no medical attendance during the 48 hours

 

immediately preceding the hour of death, and if the decedent had

 

chosen not to have medical attendance because of his or her bona

 

fide held religious convictions, removal is not required unless

 

there is evidence of other conditions described in section 3. If

 

there is no public morgue, the body may be removed to a private

 

morgue designated by the county medical examiner.

 

     (2) The county medical examiner may designate a medical

 

examiner investigator appointed under section 1a(2) to take charge

 

of the body, make pertinent inquiry, note the circumstances

 

surrounding the death, and, if considered necessary, cause the body

 

to be transported to the morgue for examination by the county

 

medical examiner. The county medical examiner shall maintain a list

 

of medical examiner investigators appointed under section 1a(2) and

 

their qualifications and shall file the list with the local law

 

enforcement agencies. A medical examiner investigator appointed

 

under section 1a(2) shall not be an agent or employee of a person

 

or funeral establishment licensed under article 18 of the

 

occupational code, 1980 PA 299, MCL 339.1801 to 339.1812, receive,

 

directly or indirectly, remuneration in connection with the

 

disposition of the body, or make funeral or burial arrangements

 

without approval of the next of kin, if known, or the individual

responsible for the funeral expenses.

 

     (3) The county medical examiner may perform or direct to be

 

performed an autopsy and shall carefully reduce or cause to be

 

reduced to writing each fact and circumstance tending to show the

 

condition of the body and the cause and manner of death, and shall

 

include in that writing the name and address of each individual

 

present at the autopsy. The individual performing the autopsy shall

 

subscribe the writing described in this subsection.

 

     (4) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, the

 

county medical examiner shall ascertain the identity of the

 

decedent and immediately and as compassionately as possible notify

 

the next of kin of the decedent's death and the location of the

 

body. The notification described in this subsection is not required

 

if a person from the state police, a county sheriff department, a

 

township police department, or a municipal police department states

 

to the county medical examiner that the notification has already

 

occurred.

 

     (5) If visual identification of a decedent is impossible as a

 

result of burns, decomposition, or other disfiguring injuries or if

 

the county medical examiner is aware that the death is the result

 

of an accident that involved 2 or more individuals who were

 

approximately the same age, sex, height, weight, hair color, eye

 

color, and race, then the county medical examiner shall verify the

 

identity of the decedent through fingerprints, dental records, DNA,

 

or other definitive identification procedures and, if the accident

 

resulted in the survival of any individuals with the same

 

attributes, shall notify the respective hospital or institution of

his or her findings. The county medical examiner may conduct an

 

autopsy under subsection (3) if he or she determines that an

 

autopsy reasonably appears to be required pursuant to by law. After

 

the county medical examiner, a deputy, a person from the state

 

police, a county sheriff department, a township police department,

 

or a municipal police department has made diligent effort to locate

 

and notify the next of kin, the county medical examiner may order

 

and conduct the autopsy with or without the consent of the next of

 

kin of the decedent. The county medical examiner or a deputy shall

 

keep a written record of the efforts to locate and notify the next

 

of kin for a period of 1 year from the date of the autopsy.

 

     (6) The county medical examiner shall cause a DNA sample and

 

fingerprinting to be obtained from an unidentified body described

 

under subsection (1) prior to burial or other disposition of the

 

body, and shall cause the DNA profile and fingerprinting

 

information obtained from the unidentified body to be entered into

 

the national crime information center under section 8 of 1968 PA

 

319, MCL 28.258.

 

     (7) (6) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, the

 

county medical examiner shall promptly deliver or return the body

 

or any portion of the body to relatives or representatives of the

 

decedent after an examination or autopsy is performed under this

 

section. If there are no relatives or representatives of the

 

decedent known to the county medical examiner, he or she may cause

 

the body to be buried pursuant to as provided by law. A county

 

medical examiner may retain any portion of the body that he or she

 

considers necessary to establish the cause of death, the conditions

contributing to death, or the manner of death, or as evidence of

 

any crime. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, if a

 

portion of the body retained is an entire organ or limb of the

 

decedent, the county medical examiner shall attempt to verbally or

 

in writing notify the relatives or representatives of the decedent

 

of that retention and offer an opportunity for the relative or

 

representative to request the return of that organ or limb. If

 

notification is verbally made under this subsection, the county

 

medical examiner shall follow up with written notification. The

 

county medical examiner or a deputy shall keep a written record of

 

the efforts to notify the relatives or representatives of the

 

decedent under this subsection for a period of 1 year from the date

 

of the notification or attempt to notify. This subsection does not

 

apply to anatomical gifts made under part 101 of the public health

 

code, 1978 PA 368, MCL 333.10101 to 333.10123. Upon determination

 

that retention of the portions of the body is no longer necessary

 

under this subsection, the county medical examiner shall do all of

 

the following, as applicable:

 

     (a) If requested in writing under this subsection, promptly

 

deliver or return the retained organ or limb to the relatives or

 

representatives of the decedent.

 

     (b) Dispose of any remaining retained body portions in the

 

manner prescribed for medical waste under part 138 of the public

 

health code, 1978 PA 368, MCL 333.13801 to 333.13831.333.13832.

 

     (8) (7) A county medical examiner or any person acting under

 

the authority of the county medical examiner who performs the

 

medical examiner duties for the retention of body parts, as added

by the amendatory act that added this subsection, shall 2010 PA

 

108, is not be liable in a civil action as a result of an act or

 

omission by the person arising out of and in the course of the

 

person's good faith performance of those medical examiner duties

 

unless that person's act or omission was the result of that

 

person's negligence.

 

     Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect 90 days

 

after the date it is enacted into law.