Iowa Code 331.802 – Deaths — reported and investigated
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1. A person‘s death that affects the public interest as specified in subsection 3 shall be reported to the county medical examiner or the state medical examiner by the physician in attendance, any law enforcement officer having knowledge of the death, the funeral director, or any other person present. The appropriate medical examiner shall notify the city or state law enforcement agency or sheriff and take charge of the body.
Terms Used In Iowa Code 331.802
- Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
- Board: means the board of supervisors of a county. See Iowa Code 331.101
- Child: includes child by adoption. See Iowa Code 4.1
- Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
- County attorney: means the county attorney or a deputy county attorney or assistant county attorney designated by the county attorney. See Iowa Code 331.101
- Decedent: A deceased person.
- Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute mean the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See Iowa Code 4.1
- Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
- Officer: means a natural person elected or appointed to a fixed term and exercising some portion of the power of a city. See Iowa Code 362.2
- Person: means an individual, firm, partnership, domestic or foreign corporation, company, association or joint stock association, trust, or other legal entity, and includes a trustee, receiver, assignee, or similar representative thereof, but does not include a governmental body. See Iowa Code 362.2
- Rule: includes "regulation". See Iowa Code 4.1
- Sheriff: means the county sheriff or a deputy sheriff designated by the sheriff. See Iowa Code 331.101
- state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories, and the words "United States" may include the said district and territories. See Iowa Code 4.1
- State law: includes the Constitution of the State of Iowa and state statutes. See Iowa Code 331.101
- summary: shall mean a narrative description of the terms and conditions of an ordinance setting forth the main points of the ordinance in a manner calculated to inform the public in a clear and understandable manner the meaning of the ordinance and which shall provide the public with sufficient notice to conform to the desired conduct required by the ordinance. See Iowa Code 331.302
2. a. If a person’s death affects the public interest as specified in subsection 3, the county medical examiner shall conduct a preliminary investigation of the cause and manner of death, prepare a written report of the findings, promptly submit the full report to the state medical examiner on forms prescribed for that purpose, and submit a copy of the report to the county attorney.
b. (1) Except as provided in section 218.64 or as otherwise provided by law, for each preliminary investigation and the preparation and submission of the required reports, the county medical examiner and medical examiner investigator shall receive from the county of appointment or the decedent‘s county of residence a fee determined by the board of the county of appointment plus the examiner’s and investigator’s actual expenses.
(2) The fee and expenses shall be submitted by the county medical examiner and the medical examiner investigator as a joint invoice to the county of appointment which may immediately pay the invoice. If the county of appointment pays the invoice, the county of appointment shall seek reimbursement from the decedent’s county of residence.
(3) If the county of appointment elects not to pay an invoice under subparagraph (2), the county shall forward the joint invoice to the decedent’s county of residence for payment to the county medical examiner and the medical examiner investigator. If the county medical examiner and medical examiner investigator do not receive payment from the county of the decedent’s residence within sixty days of receiving the joint invoice, the county of appointment shall pay the invoice.
(4) If the person’s death is caused by a defendant for whom a judgment of conviction and sentence is rendered under section 707.2, 707.3, 707.4, 707.5, or 707.6A, the county of the person’s residence or the county of appointment, as applicable, may recover from the defendant the fee and expenses.
c. The fee and expenses of the county medical examiner who performs an autopsy or conducts an investigation of a person who dies after being brought into this state for emergency medical treatment by or at the direction of an out-of-state law enforcement officer or public authority shall be paid by the state. A claim for payment shall be filed with the state appeal board and, if authorized by the board, shall be paid out of moneys in the general fund of the state not otherwise appropriated.
3. A death affecting the public interest includes, but is not limited to, any of the following:
a. Violent death, including homicide, suicide, or accidental death.
b. Death caused by thermal, chemical, electrical, or radiation injury.
c. Death caused by criminal abortion including self-induced, or by sexual abuse.
d. Death related to disease thought to be virulent or contagious which may constitute a public hazard.
e. Death that has occurred unexpectedly or from an unexplained cause.
f. Death of a person confined in a prison, jail, or correctional institution.
g. Death of a person who was prediagnosed as a terminal or bedfast case who did not have a physician in attendance within the preceding thirty days; or death of a person who was admitted to and had received services from a hospice program as defined in section 135J.1, if a physician or registered nurse employed by the program was not in attendance within thirty days preceding death.
h. Death of a person if the body is not claimed by a person authorized to control the deceased person’s remains under section 144C.5, or a friend.
i. Death of a person if the identity of the deceased is unknown.
j. Death of a child under the age of two years if death results from an unknown cause or if the circumstances surrounding the death indicate that sudden infant death syndrome may be the cause of death.
k. Death of a person committed or admitted to a state mental health institute, a state resource center, or the state training school.
4. a. The county medical examiner shall conduct the investigation in the manner required by the state medical examiner and shall determine whether the public interest requires an autopsy or other special investigation. However, if the death occurred in the manner specified in subsection 3, paragraph “j”, the county medical examiner shall order an autopsy, claims for the payment of which shall be filed with the state appeal board and, if authorized by the board, shall be paid out of moneys in the general fund of the state not otherwise appropriated. In determining the need for an autopsy, the county medical examiner may consider the request for an autopsy from a public official or private person, but the state medical examiner or the county attorney of the county where the death occurred may require an autopsy except as provided in paragraph “b”.
b. If after the county medical examiner’s or state medical examiner’s investigation of a deceased child the medical examiner determines that the deceased child’s cause and manner of death are obvious and there are no significant legal, medical, or investigative concerns by the medical examiner, social services, or law enforcement, an autopsy shall not be required under paragraph “a”.
c. The county medical examiner may refer a body for autopsy or further investigation pursuant to paragraph “a” to any facility accredited by the national association of medical examiners. The county shall pay to the receiving facility a fee equal to an autopsy fee established by the office of the state medical examiner by rule.
5. a. A person making an autopsy shall promptly file a complete record of the findings in the office of the state medical examiner and the county attorney of the county where death occurred and the county attorney of the county where any injury contributing to or causing the death was sustained.
b. A summary of the findings resulting from an autopsy of a child under the age of two years whose death occurred in the manner specified in subsection 3, paragraph “j”, shall be transmitted immediately by the physician who performed the autopsy to the county medical examiner. The report shall be forwarded to the parent, guardian, or custodian of the child by the county medical examiner or a designee of the county medical examiner, or through the infant’s attending physician. A copy of the autopsy report filed with the county attorney shall be available to the parents, guardian, or custodian upon request.
6. The report of an investigation made by the state medical examiner or a county medical examiner and the record and report of an autopsy made under this section or chapter 691, shall be received as evidence in any court or other proceedings, except that statements by witnesses or other persons and conclusions on extraneous matters included in the report are not admissible. The person preparing a report or record given in evidence may be subpoenaed as a witness in any civil or criminal case by any party to the cause. A copy of a record, photograph, laboratory finding, or record in the office of the state medical examiner or any medical examiner, when attested to by the state medical examiner or a staff member or the medical examiner in whose office the record, photograph, or finding is filed, shall be received as evidence in any court or other proceedings for any purpose for which the original could be received without proof of the official character of the person whose name is signed to it.
7. In case of a sudden, violent, or suspicious death after which the body is buried without an investigation or autopsy, the county medical examiner, upon being advised of the facts, shall notify the county attorney. The county attorney shall apply for a court order requiring the body to be exhumed in accordance with chapter 144. Upon receipt of the court order, an autopsy shall be performed by a medical examiner or by a pathologist designated by the medical examiner and the facts disclosed by the autopsy shall be communicated to the court ordering the disinterment for appropriate action.
8. Where donation of the remains of the deceased to a medical school or similar institution equipped with facilities to perform autopsies is provided by will or directed by the person authorized to control the deceased person’s remains under section 144C.5, any autopsy under this section shall be performed at the direction of the school or institution, and in such a manner as to further the purpose of the donation, while serving the public interest.
9. If an autopsy is ordered under this section, the county shall reimburse the funeral director for all costs associated with the transportation of the body to and from the facility performing the autopsy at a rate equivalent to the rate of reimbursement allowed under the standard mileage rate method for computation of business expenses pursuant to the Internal Revenue Code at the time the transportation occurs plus any other associated fees.