52:17B-88.10 Standardized protocols for autopsies of suspected SIDS victims.
2. a. The State Medical Examiner, in consultation with the Commissioner of Health and Senior Services, shall develop standardized protocols for autopsies performed in those cases in which the suspected cause of death of a child under one year of age is sudden infant death syndrome and in which the child is between one and three years of age and the death is sudden and unexpected.
b.The State Medical Examiner shall establish a Sudden Child Death Autopsy Protocol Committee to assist in developing and reviewing the protocol. The committee shall include, but shall not be limited to, the State Medical Examiner or his designee, the Assistant Commissioner of the Division of Family Health Services in the Department of Health and Senior Services or his designee, the Director of the Division of Youth and Family Services in the Department of Children and Families or his designee, the director of the SIDS Resource Center established pursuant to P.L.1987, c.331 (C.26:5D-4), an epidemiologist, a forensic pathologist, a pediatric pathologist, a county medical examiner, a pediatrician who is knowledgeable about sudden infant death syndrome and child abuse, a law enforcement officer, an emergency medical technician or a paramedic, a family member of a sudden infant death syndrome victim and a family member of a sudden unexpected death victim who was between one and three years of age at the time of death.
The committee shall annually review the protocol and make recommendations to the State Medical Examiner to revise the protocol, as appropriate.
c.The protocols shall include requirements and standards for scene investigation, criteria for ascertaining the cause of death based on autopsy, criteria for specific tissue sampling, and such other requirements as the committee deems appropriate. The protocols shall take into account nationally recognized standards for pediatric autopsies.
The State Medical Examiner shall be responsible for ensuring that the protocols are followed by all medical examiners and other persons authorized to conduct autopsies in those cases in which the suspected cause of death is sudden infant death syndrome or in which the child is between one and three years of age and the death is sudden and unexpected.
d.The protocols shall authorize the State Medical Examiner, county medical examiner or other authorized person to take tissue samples for research purposes, as provided in section 2 of P.L.2005, c.227 (C.52:17B-88.11).
e.The sudden infant death syndrome autopsy protocol shall provide that if the findings in the autopsy are consistent with the definition of sudden infant death syndrome specified in the protocol, the person who conducts the autopsy shall state on the death certificate that sudden infant death syndrome is the cause of death.
L.2000, c.24, s.2; amended 2005, c.227, s.1; 2006, c.47, s.191.
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Last modified: October 11, 2016