Georgia Code, Title 45, Chapter 16, Article 2 - Death Investigations

• § 45-16-20 - Short Title
  This article shall be known and may be cited as the "Georgia Death Investigation Act."
• § 45-16-21 - Definitions
  As used in this article, the term: (1) "Autopsy" means the dissection of a dead body and the examination of bone, tissue, organs, and...
• § 45-16-22 - Medical Examiners' Inquiries -- Facilities, Persons Authorized to Perform Inquiries, Payment of Fees, Jurisdiction, and Clerical and Secretarial Assistance
  (a) The director of the division is authorized and directed to cooperate with and assist the peace officers in charge, medical examiners, and coroners...
• § 45-16-23 - Delegation of Power by Coroner or County Medical Examiner; Qualifications of Those Authorized to Perform Examinations
  (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, any coroner or county medical examiner may delegate to a local medical examiner, forensic consultant, or...
• § 45-16-24 - Notification of Suspicious or Unusual Deaths; Court Ordered Medical Examiner's Inquiry; Written Report of Inquiry
  (a) When any person dies in any county in this state: (1) As a result of violence; (2) By suicide or casualty; (3) Suddenly...
• § 45-16-25 - Duties of Coroner or County Medical Examiner Upon Receipt of Notice of Suspicious or Unusual Death; Authority to Embalm Body; Identification; Inventory and Disposition of Deceased's Property; Use of Deceased's Property for Evidence; Autopsy When Death Occurs on State Owned Property
  (a)(1) Upon receipt of the notice required by Code Section 45-16-24, the coroner or county medical examiner shall immediately take charge of the body....
• § 45-16-25.1 - Remains of Deceased to Be Released to Next of Kin Within 24 Hours; Exception in Cases Where Foul Play Suspected
  A dead body, other than skeletal remains, taken into custody under this article shall be released to the next of kin of the deceased,...
• § 45-16-26 - Assumption of Duties by Medical Examiner in Absence of Coroner or Deputy Coroner; Signing of Death Certificates
  When there is no coroner or deputy coroner in a county in which the office of coroner has not been replaced by a county...
• § 45-16-27 - When Inquest to Be Held; Special Situations; Coroner's Fee; Issuance of Subpoenas for Books, Records, or Papers; Cost of Copying; Limited Disclosure of Photographs
  (a) Coroners shall require an inquest to be conducted in their respective counties as follows: (1) When any person dies under any circumstances specified...
• § 45-16-27.1 - Medical Examination of Unexpected or Unexplained Death of Person Under Seven Years of Age
  (a) Where a coroner or county medical examiner has been notified pursuant to paragraph (6) of subsection (a) of Code Section 45-16-24 of the...
• § 45-16-28 - Performance of Autopsy When Not Required Under Code Section 45-16-24
  In the case of death of any person under such circumstances as would not require a medical examiner's inquiry under Code Section 45-16-24, any...
• § 45-16-29 - Removal of Body Generally
  No person shall move or authorize the removal of any body from the place where the same is found until the investigation is completed...
• § 45-16-30 - Transport of Body Across State Line
  No person shall move or transport a body across a Georgia state line until the investigation of the case and the medical examiner's inquiry...
• § 45-16-31 - Authorization of Removal of Body for Convenience of Examination; Investigation of Premises Before Removal
  When the deceased body lies in a place inconvenient for holding a medical examiner's inquiry, the medical examiner or coroner shall be allowed to...
• § 45-16-32 - Report of Examination and Investigation; Maintenance of Copies; Verification of Foul Play by Forensic Laboratory; Transmittal of Copies of Reports to District Attorneys
  The medical examiner and coroner shall complete a report of each medical examiner's inquiry and coroner's investigation and shall maintain permanent records of such...
• § 45-16-33 - Coroner to Make Inquest Upon Completion of Examination and Verification
  Upon the completion of the medical examiner's inquiry by the medical examiner, as provided in Code Section 45-16-24, and after verification by the division...
• § 45-16-34 - Issuance of Subpoenas; Administration of Oath to Witnesses
  (a) The coroner shall issue subpoenas to or otherwise compel the attendance of witnesses; and he shall administer to such witnesses the following oath:...
• § 45-16-35 - Coroner to Require Material Witnesses to Enter Into Recognizance; Petition for Issuance of Warrant for Arrest of Suspected Person
  If the inquest discloses facts which lead or may lead to the prosecution of any person for the homicide of the person for whom...
• § 45-16-36 - Impaneling of Jury to Hold Inquest; Compensation of Jurors
  The coroner shall summon and impanel five jurors and one alternate juror to hold an inquest, which jurors shall decide the verdict by a...
• § 45-16-37 - Jury Not to Be Impaneled Until Investigation Complete; Jury Not Required to View Body
  No coroner's jury shall be impaneled until the investigation is completed and copies of the reports of the medical examiner and the peace officer...
• § 45-16-38 - Issuance of Precept to Sheriff to Summon Inquest Jury; Form
  Whenever a coroner receives notice of the death of any person within the limits of the county of which he is coroner, which death...
• § 45-16-39 - Oath for Foreman and Jury of Inquest
  (a) The following oath shall be administered to the foreman of the jury by the coroner: "You, as foreman of the inquest, shall diligently...
• § 45-16-40 - Coroner's Charge to Jury; Power of Jury
  (a) The coroner shall charge the jurors to declare, and they shall so declare, whether the person for whom the inquest is held died...
• § 45-16-41 - Defaulting Juror to Be Fined by Coroner
  Any juror failing to attend and serve on a coroner's inquest after being duly summoned may be fined by the coroner in a sum...
• § 45-16-42 - Offering in Evidence of Results of Examination
  In all inquests the results of the medical examiner's inquiry performed shall be offered in evidence either by oral testimony of the medical examiner...
• § 45-16-43 - Receipt As Evidence of Records, Findings, and Reports of Medical Examiners' Inquiries
  Repealed by Ga. L. 2011, p. 99, § 88/HB 24, effective January 1, 2013.
• § 45-16-44 - Disposition of Bodies After Examination and Inquest; Payment of Burial Expenses From Deceased's Estate
  After the medical examiner's inquiry and inquest have been completed, the dead body shall be delivered to the person legally entitled thereto for burial....
• § 45-16-45 - Authority of Coroners and Medical Examiners to Disinter Bodies
  In order to implement this article, coroners are authorized to disinter any body already buried and, like a sheriff, to command the power of...
• § 45-16-46 - Obtaining of Blood Sample Where Person Unable to Consent; Analysis of Blood Specimens; Certified Report
  When any person has been admitted to a hospital or morgue as a result of any casualty and for any reason whatsoever is unable...
• § 45-16-47 - Penalty for Violation of Article
  Except as provided in Code Section 45-16-30, any person who violates this article shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
• § 45-16-48 - Authorization of Coroner's Employment of Court Reporter
  A coroner may be authorized to employ, at his discretion, a court reporter who is certified under Article 2 of Chapter 14 of Title...
• § 45-16-49 - Fees
  The fees heretofore authorized to be paid in cases arising under this article prior to May 1, 1997, shall continue to be paid at...
• § 45-16-50 - Providing Biological Substances to Canine Instructors or Schools
  A medical examiner within the state of Georgia is authorized to provide to an approved canine instructor or school certain biological substances such as...

Last modified: October 14, 2016