Licensure of coroners, medical examiners, medicolegal investigators, and
others
The bill establishes a prohibition against performing a death investigation or
performing the functions of a coroner, a medical examiner, or a person who assists
a coroner or medical examiner with a death investigation (medicolegal investigation
staff member) without a license in medicolegal investigation issued by the
Medicolegal Investigation Examining Board (board), except that the bill exempts
medical examiners who are physicians licensed by the Medical Examining Board
from this requirement. Any person who violates the prohibition may be subject to
a fine of not more than $1,000 and imprisonment of up to 90 days.
The bill requires the board to issue an initial license in medicolegal
investigation, at no charge, to every individual who is serving as a coroner,
nonphysician medical examiner, and medicolegal investigation staff member in this
state on the bill's effective date. The bill requires each such individual to complete,
prior to the next license renewal date, 40 hours of training, except that the bill allows
an individual who holds a credential, in good standing, from a nationally recognized
accreditation organization specializing in death investigation education to receive a
waiver from completing 16 of those 40 hours. The bill requires the board to provide,
at no cost, the required hours of training to these individuals.
The bill also requires the board to issue a license in medicolegal investigation
to any individual who is elected as a coroner, is appointed to fill a vacancy as a
coroner, is appointed as a nonphysician medical examiner, or is hired to serve as a
medicolegal investigation staff member after the bill's effective date, if the individual
pays any initial license fee imposed by the board. The bill generally requires such
an individual to complete 40 hours of training, but similarly allows for a waiver of
16 hours of this training and provides that an individual who was issued his or her
initial license with less than one year remaining before the next renewal date need
not complete the 40 hours of training until the following renewal. The bill allows the
board to impose a fee for the provision of this training for individuals elected,
appointed, or hired after the bill's effective date.
Finally, the bill allows an individual who is not serving as a coroner, medical
examiner, or medicolegal investigator to obtain a license in medicolegal investigation
from the board if he or she first completes 40 hours of training and pays any licensure
fee established by the board.
The bill provides that the renewal date for any license in medicolegal
investigation is January 1, 2015, and every four years thereafter. In order to renew
a license, a license holder must pay any renewal fee imposed by the board and
complete any required training or, for subsequent renewals, complete 24 hours of
education.
Medicolegal Investigation Examining Board; powers and duties
The bill provides for the creation of the 11-member board in the Department
of Safety and Professional Services, to be composed of a coroner; a medical examiner;
a forensic pathologist; a funeral director; members of three specified law
enforcement organizations; a member of the Wisconsin Counties Association; the
attorney general or his or her designee; the state public defender or his or her
designee; and one public member, appointed for six-year terms. The bill requires the
board to do all of the following:
1. Promulgate rules specifying standards and curricula for training and
education requirements for individuals holding a license in medicolegal
investigation issued by the board.
2. Coordinate and provide, on a regional basis, training and education for
holders of licenses issued by the board.
3. Monitor compliance with the licensure requirements created by the bill.
The bill also requires the board, if a license is not renewed for any reason, to do
any of the following that applies to the license holder:
1. If the license holder is a coroner, send a statement to the governor
recommending removal of the coroner from office because of the coroner's failure to
renew the license.
2. If the license holder is a medical examiner who is not a licensed physician,
send a statement to the county board or county executive, if applicable, of any county
in which the license holder serves, recommending dismissal of the nonphysician
medical examiner because of the nonphysician medical examiner's failure to renew
the license.
3. If the license holder is a medicolegal investigation staff member, send a
notice to the office in which the individual works notifying the coroner or medical
examiner of the staff member's failure to renew the license.
4. Provide the required training and education to license holders. The bill
allows the board to impose fees for licenses issued after the bill's effective date and
for license renewals, and to impose fees for providing training to those licensed after
the bill's effective date and for providing the education required to renew a license.
The bill requires an individual who is elected as a coroner, is appointed to fill
a vacancy as a coroner, is appointed as a nonphysician medical examiner, or is hired
to serve as a medicolegal investigation staff member, and who leaves his or her
position as a coroner, medical examiner, or medicolegal investigation staff member,
to so inform the board.
The bill appropriates to the board all moneys received from training, education,
and licensure fees and appropriates additional GPR funding to the board for the
purpose of carrying out its functions.
Reporting deaths
Under current law, any person who has knowledge of certain deaths must
report the death to the sheriff, police chief, or medical examiner or coroner for the
locality in which the death occurred. The following types of deaths must be reported:
a death that involves unexplained, unusual, or suspicious circumstances; a homicide
or suicide; a death following an accident; a death that is due to poisoning; a death
following an abortion; a death for which a physician or spiritual advisor did not
attend the deceased within 30 days before death; and a death for which a physician
refuses to sign the death certificate or for which a physician cannot timely be
obtained to sign the medical certification that is required for a death certificate. A
sheriff or police chief who is notified of such a death must notify the coroner or
medical examiner of the death, and the coroner or medical examiner must notify the
district attorney. In addition, current law requires a parent, stepparent, guardian,
or legal custodian of a child to report to law enforcement the death of the child if it
occurs under certain circumstances.
This bill requires that, if a death must be reported, any person who has
knowledge of the death must report it to the coroner or medical examiner and may,
in addition, report it to a law enforcement officer.
The bill requires that a law enforcement officer, health care provider, or funeral
director who has knowledge of a death that occurs outside of a hospital, nursing
home, hospice, or physician's office and any person who discovers the body or remains
of a deceased individual outside of a hospital, nursing home, hospice, or physician's
office must report the death to the coroner or medical examiner in the county where
the death occurred or where the body or remains were located. The bill also includes
specific reporting requirements for deaths that occur in hospitals, nursing homes,
hospices, or physician's offices. First, a health care provider must report each death
that occurs in a physician's office. Second, a hospice must report deaths that occur
while a person is receiving care from hospice in accordance with the coroner or
medical examiner's written policy. Third, a hospital or nursing home must report
each death that occurs at the hospital or nursing home and that did not result from
a natural disease process. Fourth, a hospital must report each death that occurs in
the emergency department of the hospital.
Currently, the penalty for failure to report a death for which reporting is
required is a fine not to exceed $1,000 or imprisonment for not more than 90 days.
The bill increases the maximum fine to $10,000 for a partnership, association,
organization, institution, or body politic or corporate that fails to report a death for
which reporting is required.
Jurisdiction to investigate death and notifications
Currently, a sheriff or police chief to whom a death is reported must notify a
coroner or medical examiner, and the coroner or medical examiner must notify the
district attorney.
The bill assigns jurisdiction to investigate a death to the coroner or medical
examiner in the county in which occurred the crime, injury, or other event that
caused the death. However, if it cannot be determined where the event that caused
the death occurred, or if the death occurred outside the state, the coroner or medical
examiner in the county in which death was pronounced has jurisdiction to
investigate. The bill provides that the coroner or medical examiner who has
jurisdiction to investigate a death has custody of the deceased's body and prohibits
any person from moving the body at or from a death scene without authorization from
the coroner or medical examiner. The bill requires a coroner or medical examiner
who receives notice of a death to notify the deceased's next of kin. The bill provides
that a coroner or medical examiner need not notify the district attorney of certain
types of reported deaths if the district attorney has waived notice in writing.
Autopsies and other diagnostic procedures
Currently, a coroner, medical examiner, or district attorney may order an
autopsy conducted on a body if there is reason to believe that the death resulted from
a homicide or certain other crimes or suicide, or occurred under unexplained or
suspicious circumstances. A coroner or medical examiner must order an autopsy on
any person who dies while confined in a correctional facility in this state. If a child
who is under two years of age dies unexpectedly or under circumstances indicating
sudden infant death syndrome, the coroner or medical examiner must order an
autopsy unless the parent or guardian requests in writing that an autopsy not be
performed. If the autopsy reveals that sudden infant death syndrome is the cause
of death, that cause shall be stated in the autopsy report. No person may perform
an autopsy on the body of a person whose death must be reported without obtaining
written authorization from the coroner or medical examiner.
Under current law, if an autopsy is not performed in connection with a death
that must be reported, the coroner or medical examiner may take specimens from the
body for analysis to assist in determining the cause of death. The coroner or medical
examiner must take specimens for analysis in such cases if requested to do so by the
spouse, parent, child, or sibling of the deceased.
The bill requires a coroner or medical examiner to order an autopsy for the
following deaths: a death that likely resulted from a crime; a death of a person under
two years of age under circumstances indicating sudden infant death syndrome; a
death of a person under 18 years of age that is unusual or unexplained; a death of
a person who is in the custody of a law enforcement officer or under active pursuit
by a law enforcement officer, or that otherwise involves a law enforcement officer; a
death of a person who is confined in federal prison or confined in a jail or otherwise
confined by a sheriff; and a death of a person who is detained or institutionalized in
connection with a civil commitment, preliminary proceedings for civil commitment,
or criminal trial competency proceedings. The bill allows a district attorney to order
an autopsy. The bill repeals the requirement that a coroner or medical examiner, in
cases where a death must be reported, must take specimens from a deceased's body
upon request of the deceased's spouse, parent, child, or sibling. Under the bill, if a
coroner or medical examiner does not order an autopsy for a death that must be
reported and a representative of the deceased inquires about performance of an
autopsy, the coroner or medical examiner must inform the representative that the
representative may independently contract for pathology-related services. Finally,
the bill repeals the requirement that, when applicable, coroners and medical
examiners cite sudden infant death syndrome as the cause of death in an autopsy
report.
Investigation records and handling of personal property
The bill requires that each coroner or medical examiner keep records of each
death investigation and specifies the contents of the records. The bill further
requires that the coroner or medical examiner keep death investigation records in
an office that is owned or leased by the county and designated as the office of the
coroner or medical examiner.
The bill provides that records of autopsies and other diagnostic procedures are
confidential. Under the bill, a coroner or medical examiner may release such records
only to persons who have authority to access the deceased's health care records
without informed consent, to a representative of the deceased, or for educational
purposes. The bill requires that a coroner or medical examiner keep all confidential
records that are gathered for an investigation, such as health care records,
confidential with certain exceptions. At the request of a law enforcement agency
investigating a death, a coroner or medical examiner must keep death investigation
records and information related to an investigation confidential during the course
of the investigation. The bill also requires that each coroner or medical examiner
maintain written policies regarding access to death investigation records.
The bill requires a coroner or medical examiner to maintain an inventory of
personal property that the coroner or medical examiner takes from a death scene or
from a deceased. The bill specifies that the coroner or medical examiner must
destroy, in accordance with applicable county evidence retention policies and
standards for disposal of medications, or donate to a drug repository program any
prescription medications that the coroner or medical examiner collects in an
investigation and does not provide to a law enforcement agency.
Disposition of bodies
Under current law, the coroner's or medical examiner's authorization is
required for various activities related to the disposition of bodies.
Authorization to embalm or dispose of a body. Under current law, a coroner's
or medical examiner's authorization is required to embalm or perform an autopsy on
the body of a person whose death must be reported. A coroner or medical examiner
must issue the authorization within 12 hours of receiving notice of the death or as
soon thereafter as possible in the event of unexplained, unusual, or suspicious
circumstances.
The bill requires an authorization from the coroner or medical examiner to
embalm, bury, entomb, cremate, or deliver for research purposes the body of a person
whose death must be reported. The bill specifies certain information that a coroner
or medical examiner must include on an authorization to embalm or dispose of a body,
eliminates the general 12-hour deadline for issuing an authorization to embalm, and
provides that a coroner or medical examiner must issue an authorization to embalm
or dispose of a body as soon as possible after being notified of a death.
Cremation permit. Under current law, a cremation permit issued by a coroner
or medical examiner is required for cremation of the body of any deceased person.
Currently, a person may not cremate a body within 48 hours of death, or discovery
of death, unless the death was caused by a contagious or infectious disease. A coroner
or medical examiner must view a body and make inquiry into the cause and manner
of death before issuing a cremation permit. Finally, a cremation permit for the body
of a person who died outside the state may be used only in the county in which it is
issued.
The bill calls the authorization required for cremation a release rather than a
permit. The bill provides that even when a death is caused by a contagious or
infectious disease, the body may not be cremated within 48 hours of the
pronouncement of death unless the body must be cremated immediately to
effectively contain the disease or a public health authority orders the sooner disposal
of the body during a state of emergency that is related to public health. The bill
requires that, if the medical certification of the cause and manner of death on a death
certificate is completed by a physician, the coroner or medical examiner must review
the medical certification before issuing a cremation release. The bill further requires
that a coroner or medical examiner must specify on a cremation release the earliest
date and time that cremation may occur. Finally, the bill requires that a person who
receives a body for medical research or education must request a cremation release
before receiving the body.
Authorization to disinter and reinter. Under current law, a coroner or medical
examiner must issue an authorization to disinter and reinter a body upon an order
of the court or at the request of various next of kin of the deceased or another person
who has authority to dispose of the body.
The bill clarifies that no person, other than a cemetery, may disinter a body or
human remains without authorization from the coroner or medical examiner. The
bill adds, as a condition for obtaining a coroner's or medical examiner's authorization
for disinterment without a court order, that the person requesting authorization
provide proof of intent to cremate or bury the disinterred remains.
Disposition of unidentified or unclaimed bodies. Under current law, if an
inmate of a state, county, or municipal institution dies, and a relative or friend of the
deceased does not claim the body and a medical or mortuary school does not take the
body, the superintendent of the institution must bury the body.
This bill provides that, if a person other than the superintendent of a state,
county, or municipal institution has an unidentified or unclaimed body, the person
shall notify the coroner or medical examiner in the county of residence of the
deceased, who must bury or cremate the body. Under the bill, if a coroner or medical
examiner buries or cremates the body, the county must pay the costs of burial or
cremation with funds other than funds appropriated for the operation of the
coroner's or medical examiner's office. The bill further provides that, if the coroner
or medical examiner makes reasonable efforts to identify a body and notify the
deceased's representative of disposal of the body, the coroner or medical examiner is
immune from civil liability for his or her choice of method for disposing of the body.
Mental health treatment records
Under current law, a coroner or medical examiner may obtain a deceased's
health care records without informed consent for the purpose of completing a medical
certification on a certificate of death or for conducting a death investigation. This
bill provides a coroner or medical examiner access to a deceased's mental health
treatment records without informed consent for the purpose of completing a medical
certification on a certificate of death or for conducting a death investigation.
Because this bill creates a new crime or revises a penalty for an existing crime,
the Joint Review Committee on Criminal Penalties may be requested to prepare a
report concerning the proposed penalty and the costs or savings that are likely to
result if the bill is enacted.
For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be
printed as an appendix to this bill.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
enact as follows:
AB530,1
1Section
1. 15.405 (18) of the statutes is created to read:
AB530,8,52
15.405
(18) Medicolegal investigation examining board. There is created a
3medicolegal investigation examining board in the department of safety and
4professional services that shall consist of the following members appointed for
56-year terms:
AB530,9,2
1(a) One coroner, one medical examiner, and one forensic pathologist, each of
2whom are members of the Wisconsin Coroners and Medical Examiners Association.
AB530,9,33
(b) One licensed funeral director.
AB530,9,44
(c) One member of the Wisconsin District Attorneys' Association.
AB530,9,55
(d) One member of the Wisconsin Sheriffs and Deputy Sheriffs Association.
AB530,9,66
(e) One member of the Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Association.
AB530,9,77
(f) One member of the Wisconsin Counties Association.
AB530,9,88
(g) The attorney general or his or her designee.
AB530,9,99
(h) The state public defender or his or her designee.
AB530,9,1010
(i) One public member.
AB530,2
11Section
2. 20.005 (3) (schedule) of the statutes: at the appropriate place, insert
12the following amounts for the purposes indicated:
-
See PDF for table ![PDF](http://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/assets/image/file_acrobat.gif)
AB530,3
13Section
3. 20.165 (1) (b) of the statutes is created to read:
AB530,9,1514
20.165
(1) (b)
Medicolegal investigation examining board; general purpose
15revenue. Biennially, the amounts in the schedule to provide training and education
1to individuals licensed under s. 463.10 and to support the medicolegal investigation
2examining board in performing its duties and functions.
AB530,10,135
20.165
(1) (g)
General program operations. The amounts in the schedule for
6the licensing, rule making, and regulatory functions of the department, other than
7the licensing, rule-making, and credentialing functions of the medical examining
8board and the affiliated credentialing boards attached to the medical examining
9board and except for preparing, administering, and grading examinations. Ninety
10percent of all moneys received under chs. 440 to 480, except
ch. chs. 448
and 463 and
11ss. 440.03 (13)
, and 440.05 (1) (b)
, and, less $10 of each renewal fee received under
12s. 452.12 (5); all moneys transferred from the appropriation under par. (i); and all
13moneys received under s. 440.055 (2)
, shall be credited to this appropriation.
AB530,5
14Section
5. 20.165 (1) (hr) of the statutes is created to read:
AB530,10,2015
20.165
(1) (hr)
Medicolegal investigation examining board; program revenues. 16All moneys received from fees imposed for providing training and education under
17s. 463.05 (2) (b) and all moneys received from fees imposed for licenses issued under
18s. 463.10 to provide training and education to individuals licensed under s. 463.10
19and to support the medicolegal investigation examining board in performing its
20duties and functions.
AB530,6
21Section
6. 51.30 (4) (b) 29. of the statutes is created to read:
AB530,11,622
51.30
(4) (b) 29. To a medical examiner, assistant medical examiner, coroner,
23or deputy coroner upon an oral or written request from that person, if the individual's
24treatment records are relevant to completion of a medical certification for the
25individual's death under s. 69.18 (2) or to an investigation of the cause or manner of
1the individual's death under s. 979.01 or 979.10. A custodian of treatment records
2may initiate contact with a coroner or medical examiner to inform him or her of
3treatment records of a deceased individual that may be relevant to the completion
4of a medical certification or the investigation of a death. The recipient of any
5information under this subdivision shall keep the information confidential except as
6necessary to comply with s. 69.18, 979.01, or 979.10.
AB530,7
7Section
7. 69.01 (12) of the statutes is amended to read:
AB530,11,128
69.01
(12) "Final disposition" means the disposition of a corpse or stillbirth by
9burial, interment, entombment, cremation, delivery to a university or school under
10s. 157.02
(3) (1m) (c), or delivery to a medical or dental school anatomy department
11under s. 157.06. "Final disposition" does not include disposition of the ashes
12produced by cremation of a corpse or stillbirth.
AB530,8
13Section
8. 69.18 (1) (a) 3. of the statutes is amended to read:
AB530,11,1414
69.18
(1) (a) 3. A person acting under s. 157.02 or 445.16
(1).
AB530,9
15Section
9. 69.18 (2) (d) 1. of the statutes is amended to read:
AB530,11,2316
69.18
(2) (d) 1. Except as provided under par. (e), if a death is
the subject of a
17coroner's or medical examiner's determination investigated by a coroner or medical
18examiner under s. 979.01
or 979.03, the coroner or medical examiner or a physician
19supervised by a coroner or medical examiner in the county where the event which
20caused the death occurred shall complete and sign the medical certification for the
21death
and mail the death certificate within 5 days after the pronouncement of death
22or present the certificate to the person responsible for filing the death certificate
23under sub. (1) within 6 days after the pronouncement of death.
AB530,10
24Section
10. 69.18 (2) (d) 2. of the statutes is amended to read:
AB530,12,7
169.18
(2) (d) 2. Except as provided under par. (e), if the decedent was not under
2the care of a physician for the illness or condition from which the person died, the
3coroner or medical examiner, or a physician supervised by a coroner or medical
4examiner, in the county of the place of death shall complete and sign the medical
5certification for the death
and mail the death certificate within 5 days after the
6pronouncement of death or present the certificate to the person responsible for filing
7the death certificate under sub. (1) within 6 days after the pronouncement of death.
AB530,11
8Section
11. 69.18 (2) (d) 3. of the statutes is amended to read:
AB530,12,159
69.18
(2) (d) 3. For a medical certification under this paragraph, except a
10medical certification of the cause of death of an indigent, a coroner or medical
11examiner may charge a fee established by the county board, not to exceed an amount
12reasonably related to the actual and necessary cost of providing the medical
13certification. The coroner or medical examiner, or the physician employed by the
14coroner or medical examiner, shall
mail or present
complete and sign a medical
15certification as required under subd. 1., whether or not the fee has been paid.
AB530,12
16Section
12. 69.18 (3) (a) of the statutes is amended to read:
AB530,12,2517
69.18
(3) (a) Except as provided under par. (c) or (e), the person who has moved
18a corpse under sub. (1) (a) shall complete a report for final disposition, on a form
19supplied by the state registrar, and, within 24 hours after being notified of the death,
20mail or present a copy of the report to the coroner or medical examiner in the county
21of the place of death and mail or present a copy to the local registrar in the
22registration district of the place of death. If the
cause of death
is subject to an
23investigation must be reported to a coroner or medical examiner under s. 979.01
or
24979.03, the report for final disposition shall be submitted to the coroner or medical
25examiner in the county in which the event which caused the death occurred.
AB530,13
1Section
13. 69.18 (3) (b) of the statutes is amended to read:
AB530,13,62
69.18
(3) (b) If a medical certification for a corpse is required under sub. (2) (d),
3no person may embalm the corpse or effect its final disposition without satisfying the
4requirements for a report under par. (a) and without obtaining
the written
5permission of the person required to complete the medical certification under sub.
6(2) (d) an authorization to embalm or dispose of a body under s. 979.105.
AB530,14
7Section
14. 69.18 (3) (d) of the statutes is amended to read:
AB530,13,158
69.18
(3) (d) No person may remove a corpse from this state if the place of death
9was in this state unless the corpse is accompanied by a copy of the report for final
10disposition. If a medical certification is required for the corpse under sub. (2) (d), the
11corpse must be accompanied by the report and
the written permission of the coroner
12or medical examiner to embalm and effect final disposition an authorization to
13embalm or dispose of a body under s. 979.105. No person may remove a stillbirth
14from this state if the delivery of the stillbirth was in this state unless the stillbirth
15is accompanied by a report for final disposition.
AB530,15
16Section
15. 69.18 (4) (a) (intro.) of the statutes is renumbered 69.18 (4) (c) and
17amended to read:
AB530,14,218
69.18
(4) (c) Subject to s. 157.111, the coroner or medical examiner of the county
19in which a decedent's corpse is interred shall issue
an authorization a permit for
20disinterment and reinterment upon receipt of an order of a court of competent
21jurisdiction
or upon receipt of a written application for disinterment and reinterment
22signed by the person in charge of the disinterment and by any of the following
23persons, in order of priority stated, when persons in prior classes are not available
24at the time of application, and in the absence of actual notice of contrary indications
1by the decedent or actual notice of opposition by a member of the same or a prior
2class:.