What to know
A medicolegal investigation is conducted by a coroner’s or medical examiner’s office to determine how someone died. Each state sets its own standards for what kinds of deaths require investigation. These are the laws for Arkansas.
Medicolegal death investigation system
Is medical death investigation system centralized, county-based, or district-based?
County-based. Ark. Code Ann. § 14-15-301.
If centralized, in which department or agency is the system housed?
Not applicable.
Does the state system have a coroner, medical examiner, or coroners and medical examiners?
Coroner. Ark. Code Ann. § 14-15-301.
"In practice" notes
None.
Is there a state medical examiner?
Yes. Ark. Code Ann. § 12-12-306.
If so, what is the state medical examiner's role?
(2)(a) The laboratory shall make examinations, investigations, or perform postmortem examinations to determine the cause of death as the Executive Director of the State Crime Laboratory or his or her staff deems necessary or as may be requested by the
(i) County coroner of the county in which death occurs or is discovered;
(ii) Prosecuting attorney of the jurisdiction in which death occurs or is discovered;
(iii) Prosecuting attorney of the jurisdiction in which death occurs or is discovered;
(iv) Chief of police of the city in which death occurs or is discovered;
(v) Board of Corrections or its designee, or the Director of the Department of Correction or his or her designee if the person was in the care, custody, or control of the Department of Correction at the time of death; or
(vi) Director of the Department of Arkansas State Police or his or her designee . . .
(b)(1) In cases of sudden death in children between the ages of one (1) year and six (6) years with no previous major medical health problems, the State Medical Examiner, on a case-by-case basis, may delegate authority to the Arkansas Children's Hospital to perform postmortem examinations to determine the cause of death. . . .
(d) The executive director and his or her staff shall not, as a part of their official duties, perform any postmortem examination at the request of any private citizen or any public official other than those enumerated in this section.
(e) The provisions of this section shall supersede any and all other laws relating to the power and authority of the executive director or his or her staff, including the examiner, to conduct examinations, investigations, or postmortem examinations.
(f)(1) The executive director shall have the final authority on any ruling of manner of death which may become a matter of dispute between those persons authorized by this section to request a postmortem examination as described in § 12-12-315 and the examiner or his or her associates . . .
Ark. Code Ann. § 12-12-318.
(g) In addition to the duties prescribed in this subchapter, the State Medical Examiner and his or her associates may teach in the medical school, conduct classes for law enforcement officers and officials, lecture, do research, and engage in such activities as shall be deemed appropriate by the State Crime Laboratory Board.
Ark. Code Ann. § 12-12-307.
In what department or agency is the state medical examiner's office located?
State Crime Laboratory. Ark. Code Ann. § 12-12-306.
Are there deputies?
Yes (inferred from statute). Ark. Code Ann. § 14-15-302.
If so, what are the deputies' roles?
Unspecified.
What are the qualifications for deputies?
Unspecified.
Qualifications, term of office, and training
Is the coroner or medical examiner position elected?
Yes. Ark. Code Ann. § 14-14-1302.
If so, how many years is the term of office?
Two. Ark. Code Ann. § 14-14-1302.
What are the qualifications specified by law?
(a)(1) The State Medical Examiner as well as associate medical examiners shall
(A) Be citizens of the United States;
(B) Be physicians or surgeons with a doctor of medicine degree who have been licensed or who are eligible to be licensed to practice medicine in the State of Arkansas;
(C) Have a minimum of three (3) years postgraduate training in human pathology as recognized by the American Medical Association; and
(D) Have had at least one (1) year of experience in medical-legal practice.
(2) The State Medical Examiner shall also be board certified or eligible for board certification as recognized by the American Board of Pathology in Forensic Pathology.
Ark. Code Ann. § 12-12-307.
Investigations/autopsies
What types of deaths are required to be investigated?
A coroner's investigation does not include criminal investigation responsibilities. However, the coroner shall assist any law enforcement agency or the State Crime Laboratory upon request. Ark. Code Ann. § 14-15-302.
When a death is reported to the coroner, he shall conduct an investigation concerning the circumstances surrounding the death of an individual and gather and review background information, including, but not limited to, medical information and any other information which may be helpful in determining the cause and manner of death. Ark. Code Ann. § 14-15-301.
(A) The death appears to be caused by violence or appears to be the result of a homicide or a suicide or to be accidental;
(B) The death appears to be the result of the presence of drugs or poisons in the body;
(C) The death appears to be a result of a motor vehicle accident, or the body was found in or near a roadway or railroad;
(D) The death appears to be a result of a motor vehicle accident and there is no obvious trauma to the body;
(E) The death occurs while the person is in a state mental institution or hospital and there is no previous medical history to explain the death, or while the person is in police custody or jail other than a jail operated by the Department of Correction;
(F) The death appears to be the result of a fire or an explosion;
(G) The death of a minor child appears to indicate child abuse prior to death;
(H) Human skeletal remains are recovered or an unidentified deceased person is discovered;
(I) Postmortem decomposition exists to the extent that an external examination of the corpse cannot rule out injury, or in which the circumstances of death cannot rule out the commission of a crime;
(J) The death appears to be the result of drowning;
(K) The death is of an infant or a minor child under eighteen (18) years of age;
(L) The manner of death appears to be other than natural;
(M) The death is sudden and unexplained;
(N) The death occurs at a work site;
(O) The death is due to a criminal abortion;
(P) The death is of a person where a physician was not in attendance within thirty-six (36) hours preceding death, or, in prediagnosed terminal or bedfast cases, within thirty (30) days;
(Q) A person is admitted to a hospital emergency room unconscious and is unresponsive, with cardiopulmonary resuscitative measures being performed, and dies within twenty-four (24) hours of admission without regaining consciousness or responsiveness, unless a physician was in attendance within thirty-six (36) hours preceding presentation to the hospital, or, in cases in which the decedent had a prediagnosed terminal or bedfast condition, unless a physician was in attendance within thirty (30) days preceding presentation to the hospital;
(R) The death occurs in the home; or
(S)(i) The death poses a potential threat to public health or safety . . .
(b) With regard to any death in a correctional facility, the county coroner and the State Medical Examiner shall be notified, and when previous medical history does not exist to explain the death, the Department of Arkansas State Police shall be notified.
Ark. Code Ann. § 12-12-315.
What types of deaths are required to be autopsied?
A coroner or a supervisor of a firefighter, police officer, or eligible person shall promptly notify the State Medical Examiner if the firefighter, police officer, or eligible person dies in the line of duty as a result of injuries sustained in the line of duty or within twenty-four (24) hours after participating in an emergency situation . . . The examiner may conduct an autopsy on any firefighter, police officer, or eligible person who dies in the line of duty as a result of injuries sustained in the line of duty or within twenty-four (24) hours after participating in an emergency situation.
[Not otherwise specified by statute.]
Ark. Code Ann. § 12-12-326.
Does the state require that pathologists perform the autopsies?
No.
Disclaimer
Information available on this website that was not developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not necessarily represent any CDC policy, position, or endorsement of that information or of its sources. The information contained on this website is not legal advice; if you have questions about a specific law or its application you should consult your legal counsel.