Find Legal Information

72.025 Circumstances requiring post-mortem examination to be performed by coroner.

Download pdf

72.025 Circumstances requiring post-mortem examination to be performed by coroner. Coroners shall require a post-mortem examination to be performed in the following <br>circumstances: <br>(1) When the death of a human being appears to be caused by homicide or violence; <br>(2) When the death of a human being appears to be the result of suicide; <br>(3) When the death of a human being appears to be the result of the presence of drugs or poisons in the body; (4) When the death of a human being appears to be the result of a motor vehicle accident and the operator of the motor vehicle left the scene of the accident or the <br>body was found in or near a roadway or railroad; (5) When the death of a human being occurs while the person is in a state mental institution or mental hospital when there is no previous medical history to explain <br>the death, or while the person is in police custody, a jail or penal institution; (6) When the death of a human being occurs in a motor vehicle accident and when an external examination of the body does not reveal a lethal traumatic injury; (7) When the death of a human being appears to be the result of a fire or explosion; <br>(8) When the death of a child appears to indicate child abuse prior to the death; <br>(9) When the manner of death appears to be other than natural; <br>(10) When human skeletonized remains are found; <br>(11) When post-mortem decomposition of a human corpse exists to the extent that external examination of the corpse cannot rule out injury or where the <br>circumstances of death cannot rule out the commission of a crime; (12) When the death of a human being appears to be the result of drowning; <br>(13) When the death of an infant appears to be caused by sudden infant death syndrome in that the infant has no previous medical history to explain the death; (14) When the death of a human being occurs as a result of an accident; <br>(15) When the death of a human being occurs under the age of forty (40) and there is no past medical history to explain the death; (16) When the death of a human being occurs at the work site and there is no apparent cause of death such as an injury or when industrial toxics may have contributed to <br>the cause of death; (17) When the body is to be cremated and there is no past medical history to explain the death; (18) When the death of a human being is sudden and unexplained; and <br>(19) When the death of a human being occurs and the decedent is not receiving treatment by a licensed physician and there is no ascertainable medical history to indicate the <br>cause of death. Effective: July 15, 1998 History: Amended 1998 Ky. Acts ch. 406, sec. 1, effective July 15, 1998. -- Amended 1986 Ky. Acts ch. 316, sec. 1, effective July 15, 1986. -- Created 1982 Ky. Acts <br>ch. 195, sec. 1, effective July 15, 1982.