MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2013 Regular Session
To: Public Health and Human Services; Fees and Salaries of Public Officers
By: Representative Moak
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 41-61-59, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO INCREASE THE AMOUNTS OF THE MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM MONTHLY SALARY FOR CHIEF COUNTY MEDICAL EXAMINERS AND CHIEF COUNTY MEDICAL EXAMINER INVESTIGATORS; TO AMEND SECTION 41-61-75, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO INCREASE THE AMOUNT THAT MEDICAL EXAMINERS AND DEPUTIES RECEIVE FOR EACH COMPLETED REPORT OF INVESTIGATION OF DEATH; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 41-61-59, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
41-61-59. (1) A person's death that affects the public interest as specified in subsection (2) of this section shall be promptly reported to the medical examiner by the physician in attendance, any hospital employee, any law enforcement officer having knowledge of the death, the embalmer or other funeral home employee, any emergency medical technician, any relative or any other person present. The appropriate medical examiner shall notify the municipal or state law enforcement agency or sheriff and take charge of the body. When the medical examiner has received notification under Section 41-39-15(6) that the deceased is medically suitable to be an organ and/or tissue donor, the medical examiner's authority over the body shall be subject to the provisions of Section 41-39-15(6). The appropriate medical examiner shall notify the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics within twenty-four (24) hours of receipt of the body in cases of death as described in subsection (2)(m) or (n) of this section.
(2) A death affecting the public interest includes, but is not limited to, any of the following:
(a) Violent death, including homicidal, suicidal or accidental death.
(b) Death caused by thermal, chemical, electrical or radiation injury.
(c) Death caused by criminal abortion, including self-induced abortion, or abortion related to or by sexual abuse.
(d) Death related to disease thought to be virulent or contagious that 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 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 preceding death.
(h) Death of a person where the body is not claimed by a relative or a friend.
(i) Death of a person where the identity of the deceased is unknown.
(j) Death of a child under the age of two (2) years where death results from an unknown cause or where the circumstances surrounding the death indicate that sudden infant death syndrome may be the cause of death.
(k) Where a body is brought into this state for disposal and there is reason to believe either that the death was not investigated properly or that there is not an adequate certificate of death.
(l) Where a person is presented to a hospital emergency room unconscious and/or 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.
(m) Death that is caused by drug overdose or which is believed to be caused by drug overdose.
(n) When a stillborn fetus is delivered and the cause of the demise is medically believed to be from the use by the mother of any controlled substance as defined in Section 41-29-105.
(3) The State Medical Examiner is empowered to investigate deaths, under the authority hereinafter conferred, in any and all political subdivisions of the state. The county medical examiners and county medical examiner investigators, while appointed for a specific county, may serve other counties on a regular basis with written authorization by the State Medical Examiner, or may serve other counties on an as-needed basis upon the request of the ranking officer of the investigating law enforcement agency. If a death affecting the public interest takes place in a county other than the one where injuries or other substantial causal factors leading to the death have occurred, jurisdiction for investigation of the death may be transferred, by mutual agreement of the respective medical examiners of the counties involved, to the county where the injuries or other substantial causal factors occurred, and the costs of autopsy or other studies necessary to the further investigation of the death shall be borne by the county assuming jurisdiction.
(4) The chief county
medical examiner or chief county medical examiner investigator may receive from
the county in which he serves a salary of * * * One
Thousand Two Hundred Fifty Dollars ($1,250.00) per month, in addition to
the fees specified in Sections 41-61-69 and 41-61-75, provided that no county
shall pay the chief county medical examiner or chief county medical examiner
investigator less than * * * Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00)
per month as a salary, in addition to other compensation provided by law. In
any county having one or more deputy medical examiners or deputy medical
examiner investigators, each deputy may receive from the county in which he
serves, in the discretion of the board of supervisors, a salary of not more
than Nine Hundred Dollars ($900.00) per month, in addition to the fees
specified in Sections 41-61-69 and 41-61-75. For this salary the chief shall
assure twenty-four-hour daily and readily available death investigators for the
county, and shall maintain copies of all medical examiner death investigations
for the county for at least the previous five (5) years. He shall coordinate
his office and duties and cooperate with the State Medical Examiner, and the
State Medical Examiner shall cooperate with him.
SECTION 2. Section 41-61-75, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
41-61-75. (1) For each investigation with the preparation and submission of the required reports, the following fees shall be billed to and paid by the county for which the service is provided:
(a)
A medical examiner or his deputy shall receive * * * One
Hundred Fifty Dollars ($150.00) for each completed report of investigation
of death, plus the examiner's actual expenses. In addition to that fee, in
cases where the cause of death was sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and the
medical examiner provides a SIDS Death Scene Investigation report, the medical
examiner shall receive for completing that report an additional Fifty Dollars
($50.00), or an additional One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) if the medical
examiner has received advanced training in child death investigations and
presents to the county a certificate of completion of that advanced training.
The State Medical Examiner shall develop and prescribe a uniform format and
list of matters to be contained in SIDS/Child Death Scene Investigation
reports, which shall be used by all county medical examiners and county medical
examiner investigators in the state.
(b) The pathologist performing autopsies as provided in Section 41-61-65 shall receive One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) per completed autopsy, plus mileage expenses to and from the site of the autopsy, and shall be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses for third-party testing, not to exceed One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) per autopsy.
(2) Any medical examiner, physician or pathologist who is subpoenaed for appearance and testimony before a grand jury, courtroom trial or deposition shall be entitled to an expert witness hourly fee to be set by the court and mileage expenses to and from the site of the testimony, and such amount shall be paid by the jurisdiction or party issuing the subpoena.
(3) This section shall stand repealed on July 1, 2014.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2013.