2009 North Carolina Code
Chapter 130A - Public Health.
§ 130A-382. County medical examiners; appointment; term of office; vacancies.

§ 130A‑382.  County medical examiners; appointment; term of office; vacancies.

One or more county medical examiners for each county shall be appointed by the Chief Medical Examiner for a three‑year term. County medical examiners shall be appointed from a list of physicians licensed to practice medicine in this State submitted by the medical society of the county in which the appointment is to be made. If no names are submitted by the society, the Chief Medical Examiner shall appoint one or more medical examiners from physicians in the county licensed to practice medicine in this State. In the event no licensed physician in a county accepts an appointment, the Chief Medical Examiner may appoint as acting county medical examiner one or more physicians licensed to practice medicine in this State from other counties, a licensed physician assistant, a nurse, a coroner, or an individual who has taken an approved course of training as required by the Chief Medical Examiner. The acting county medical examiner shall have all the duties and authority of the physician medical examiner except to perform autopsies. A medical examiner may serve more than one county. The Chief Medical Examiner may take jurisdiction in any case or appoint another medical examiner to do so. (1955, c. 972, s. 1; 1957, c. 1357, s. 1; 1963, c. 492, s. 4; 1967, c. 1154, s. 1; 1973, c. 476, s. 128; 1981, c. 187, ss. 2‑4; 1983, c. 891, s. 2; 2007‑187, s. 4.)