STATE OF OKLAHOMA

1st Session of the 54th Legislature (2013)

SENATE BILL 540	By:	Standridge

AS INTRODUCED

An Act relating to the Chief Medical Examiner; amending 63 O.S. 2011, Section 942a, which relates to appeal of findings; providing for procedures to appeal certain findings; creating a Medical Examiner Review Committee; stating purpose of the committee; providing for committee membership; and providing an effective date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1.     AMENDATORY     63 O.S. 2011, Section 942a, is amended to read as follows:
Section 942a.  A.  The spouse of the deceased or any person within one degree of consanguinity of the deceased may who wants to challenge the findings of the medical examiner shall appeal the those findings of the medical examiner to the Medical Examiner Review Committee.  If the Committee's findings are not satisfactory, the inquiring party may then appeal the findings of the Medical Examiner Review Committee to the district court of Oklahoma County under a petition for judicial review within two (2) years from the completion of the report.  Such appeal of the Medical Examiner Review Committee to district court shall be made in writing, shall state the nature and reasons for the appeal, and shall be supported by affidavit.  The burden of proof shall be on the petitioner to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the death certificate is in error.  The petitioner shall notify the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in writing upon filing the petition for judicial review.  No jury shall be impaneled and no monetary damages shall be awarded under a cause of action filed pursuant to this subsection.
B.  The court shall conduct an evidentiary hearing.  Should the court find that the findings of the medical examiner are erroneous, the court shall immediately order the Chief Medical Examiner to correct the report and transmit the appropriate paperwork to the State Department of Health for the correction of the death certificate.
C.  Reports of the medical examiner made prior to November 1, 2011, may be appealed by the spouse of the deceased or any person within one degree of consanguinity of the deceased under the procedures specified in subsection A of this section.  Appeals made pursuant to this subsection shall be filed no later than November 1, 2013.
D.  The Medical Examiner Review Committee is hereby created.  The Committee shall consist of at least three (3) forensic pathologists as designated by the Chief Medical Examiner, and shall exclude the original forensic pathologist.  The Review Committee shall publish findings within one hundred eighty (180) days of the submission of appeals described in subsection A.
SECTION 2.  This act shall become effective November 1, 2013.

54-1-1118	JAM	1/15/2013 7:56:18 PM