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An Act To Amend the Laws Governing the Handling of Medical Examiner Cases
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 22 MRSA §3028, sub-§6, as amended by PL 2001, c. 291, §6, is further amended to read:
 
6. Examination of body.   In all cases except those requiring a report on a body already disposed of and not to be exhumed for examination, the medical examiner or the person expressly authorized by the Chief Medical Examiner shall conduct a thorough examination of the body except in those cases when the body has already been disposed of and is not being exhumed or when the Chief Medical Examiner or Deputy Chief Medical Examiner determines, after review of available records and known circumstances, that the report of the death of the decedent may be certified and completed without examining the body.
 
SUMMARY
Current law requires that the medical examiner or the person expressly authorized by the Chief Medical Examiner conduct a thorough examination of a body in a medical examiner case. This bill provides an exception for a case in which the Chief Medical Examiner or the Deputy Chief Medical Examiner determines, after review of available records and known circumstances, that the report of the death of the decedent may be certified and completed without examining the body.