Upon receipt of notice of death of any person which under Section 931 et seq. of this title is subject to investigation, a representative Death Investigator from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner shall immediately initiate an investigation and shall document in detail, by the end of his or her assigned shift, all the known and available facts of the death scene in the electronic database of the Chief Medical Examiner. Decedent specimens, evidence, and photographs shall be sent to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The investigating official of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner may take charge of any object or writing found on or near the body which is deemed necessary for the purpose of establishing the cause and/or manner of death.

Upon conclusion of the investigation and determination that such objects or writings are no longer needed as evidence, the medical examiner or the medical examiner's designee may deliver them to the district attorney, law enforcement agency, or family for disposition.

The investigating medical examiner or the medical examiner's designee shall have access at all times to any and all medical and dental records and history of the deceased, including, but not limited to, radiographs and medical records, in the course of his or her official investigation to determine the cause and manner of death. Such records may not be released to any other person by the medical examiner, and the custodians of such records shall incur no liability by reason of the release of such records to the medical examiner. The body of the deceased shall be turned over to the funeral director designated by the person responsible for burial within twenty-four (24) hours of receipt of the decedent unless a longer period is necessary to complete the required investigation.

Added by Laws 1961, p. 606, § 11, eff. Jan. 2, 1962. Amended by Laws 1972, c. 246, § 10, emerg. eff. April 7, 1972; Laws 2014, c. 293, § 9, eff. Nov. 1, 2014; Laws 2015, c. 85, § 5, eff. Nov. 1, 2015.