2021 Georgia Code
Title 45 - Public Officers and Employees
Chapter 16 - Coroners
Article 2 - Death Investigations
§ 45-16-24. Notification of Suspicious or Unusual Deaths; Court Ordered Medical Examiner's Inquiry; Written Report of Inquiry

1. When any individual dies in any county in this state:
   1. As a result of violence;
   2. By suicide or casualty;
   3. Suddenly when in apparent good health;
   4. In any suspicious or unusual manner, with particular attention to those individuals 16 years of age and under;
   5. After birth but before seven years of age if the death is unexpected or unexplained;
   6. As a result of an execution carried out pursuant to the imposition of the death penalty under Article 2 of Chapter 10 of Title 17;
   7. When an inmate of a state hospital or a state, county, or city penal institution;
   8. After having been admitted to a hospital in an unconscious state and without regaining consciousness within 24 hours of admission;
   9. As a result of an apparent drug overdose; or
   10. When unattended by a physician,

       it shall be the duty of any law enforcement officer or other person having knowledge of such death to notify immediately the coroner or county medical examiner of the county in which the acts or events resulting in the death occurred or the body is found. For the purposes of this Code section, no individual shall be deemed to have died unattended when the death occurred while he or she was a patient of a hospice licensed under Article 9 of Chapter 7 of Title 31.

2. A coroner or county medical examiner who is notified of a death pursuant to subsection (a) of this Code section under circumstances specified in paragraphs (1) through (9) of such subsection shall order a medical examiner's inquiry of that death. This subsection shall not be construed to prohibit a medical examiner's inquiry of a death if a coroner or county medical examiner is notified of a death under circumstances specified in paragraph (10) of subsection (a) of this Code section.
3. Whenever an affidavit is made and filed with a court having criminal jurisdiction attesting that a person came to his death by foul play, that court may interrogate and examine witnesses, if any exist, as to the necessity of a medical examiner's inquiry.Should the court decide that a medical examiner's inquiry is essential to the ends of justice, such inquiry shall be ordered by that court.
4. A medical examiner's inquiry required under this Code section shall be reduced to writing and filed as provided in Code Section 45-16-32.At the time of such filing, a copy of the medical examiner's inquiry into a death reported to a coroner or county medical examiner pursuant to paragraph (6) of subsection (a) of this Code section shall also be transmitted to the department of family and children services of the county in which the child resided at the time of death.

(Ga. L. 1953, Jan.-Feb. Sess., p. 602, § 8; Ga. L. 1984, p. 812, § 2; Ga. L. 1985, p. 1073, § 1; Ga. L. 1990, p. 1735, § 3; Ga. L. 1994, p. 391, § 1; Ga. L. 2009, p. 81, § 1B/HB 64; Ga. L. 2017, p. 319, § 6-1/HB 249; Ga. L. 2018, p. 239, § 1/SB 327.)

The 2017 amendment, effective July 1, 2017, in subsection (a), substituted "individual" for "person" in the introductory paragraph and in the last sentence of the ending undesignated paragraph, substituted "individuals" for "persons" in paragraph (a)(5), deleted "or" at the end of paragraph (a)(8), added "; or" at the end of paragraph (a)(9), added paragraph (a)(10), and substituted "he or she" for "the person" near the end of the ending undesignated paragraph.

The 2018 amendment, effective July 1, 2018, deleted former paragraph (a)(4), which read: "When unattended by a physician;"; redesignated former paragraphs (a)(5) through (a)(9) as present paragraphs (a)(4) through (a)(8), respectively; deleted "or" at the end of paragraph (a)(8); redesignated former paragraph (a)(10) as present paragraph (a)(9); added "; or" at the end of paragraph (a)(9); and added paragraph (a)(10); and, in subsection (b), inserted "under circumstances specified in paragraphs (1) through (9) of such subsection" in the first sentence and added the second sentence.

- For article on the 2017 amendment of this Code section, see 34 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 143 (2017).

Cited in National Life & Accident Ins. Co. v. Fender, 146 Ga. App. 545, 247 S.E.2d 195 (1978).

Correlating Ga. L. 1953, Jan.-Feb. Sess., p. 602, §§ 5, 8, and 9 (see now O.C.G.A. §§ 45-16-24,45-16-25, and45-16-27) together, no post-mortem or autopsy need be performed since the deceased was under the care of a physician and there was no evidence of violence or suicide; if the deceased was under the care of a physician it was not essential that the physician be present at the instant of death to avoid the necessity of notifying the coroner. 1973 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U73-65.

- The provisions of former Code 1933, § 21-202 (see now O.C.G.A. § 45-16-27(a)), relating to the necessity of taking inquests, have been construed as being somewhat limited by later sections of O.C.G.A. Art. 2, Ch. 16, T. 45, viz., Ga. L. 1953, Jan.-Feb. Sess., p. 602, § 1 et seq. (see now O.C.G.A. §§ 45-16-24,45-16-25 and45-16-33), in that an inquest and post-mortem would not be necessary when there was sufficient evidence to disclose the cause of death. 1957 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 21.

- Duties of law enforcement officer and medical technicians to facilitate organ donations under former O.C.G.A. § 17-16-11(b) must be performed harmoniously with the coroner's duty to take charge of the body of a fatally injured individual under O.C.G.A. § 45-16-24. 1996 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 96-13.

- The removal of a body to a funeral home without the direction of the peace officer, coroner, or medical examiner is a violation of the law and a misdemeanor. 1962 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 377.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 18 Am. Jur. 2d, Coroners or Medical Examiners, § 7 et seq. 22A Am. Jur. 2d, Dead Bodies, §§ 1 et seq., 41 et seq.

- 18 C.J.S., Coroners, § 7 et seq. 25A C.J.S., Dead Bodies, §§ 2, 4.

- Criminal liability for death of another as result of accused's attempt to kill self or assist another's suicide, 40 A.L.R.4th 702.