CHAPTER 318

An Act to amend and reenact §§ 19-21 to 19-26, both inclusive, of the
Code of Virginia, relating to the powers and duties of the Chief
Medical Examiner and the appointment, powers and duties of cor-
oners, so as to substitute the term medical examiner for the word
coroner wherever the latter word appears in the sections; to transfer
the powers and duties of coroners to medical examiners; and to pro-
vide that the office of coroner shall hereafter be designated and known
as the office of medical examiner.

[H 489]

Approved March 11, 1952

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 19-21 to 19-26, both inclusive, of the Code of Virginia be
amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 19-21. * Medical Examiners, appointment, term of office and vacan-
cies.—Before October one, nineteen hundred forty-eight, and each three
years thereafter, the State Health Commissioner shall appoint for each
county and city in the State one or more * medical examiners to take office
on the first day of October * after appointment and to serve for terms of
three years and until their successors are appointed by the State Health
Commissioner and have qualified. All vacancies in the office of * medical
examiner shall be filled by the State Health Commissioner for the unexpired
terms, but temporary appointments may be made by the Chief Medical
Examiner to expire upon the appointment of a * medical examiner for
that section or district by the State Health Commissioner. Each * medical
examiner shall be appointed from a list of two or more licensed doctors
of medicine submitted by the component Medical Society of the
county or city in which the appointment is to be made, or of the
district in which the county or city is located. If no list of names is sub-
mitted by the society the State Health Commissioner shall appoint a *
medical examiner or * medical examiners from the licensed medical doctors
of such county or city. In the event the * medical examiner of any county
or city, on account of illness or enforced absence or personal interest is
unable to serve in any particular case or for any period of time, the Chief
Medical Examiner shall then designate some other qualified doctor of
medicine in such county or city to serve in the place of the regular *
medical examiner in making any examination or report required.

§ 19-22. * Medical Examiners to be notified of certain deaths.—
Upon the death of any person from violence, or suddenly when in apparent
health, or when unattended by a physician, or in prison, or in any sus-
picious, unusual or unnatural manner, the * medical examiner of the
county or city in which such death occurs shall be notified by the physician
in attendance, by any law enforcement officer having knowledge of such
death, by the undertaker, or by any other person present. If the death
occur in the penitentiary the notice shall be given to the * medical
examiner of the city of Richmond.

§ 19-23. Duties of * medical examiners upon receipt of notice;
reports; fees.—Upon receipt of such notice the * medical examiner shall
take charge of the dead body, make inquiries regarding the cause and
manner of death, reduce his findings to writing, and promptly make a
full report: thereof to the Chief Medical Examiner on forms prescribed
for such purpose, retaining one copy of such report for his own and deliv-
ering another copy to the Commonwealth’s attorney of his county or city.
Full directions as to the nature, character and extent of the investigation
to be made in such cases shall be furnished the * medical examiner by the
Chief Medical Examiner, together with appropriate forms for the required
reports and instructions for their use. For each investigation under this
chapter, including the making of the required reports, the * medical
examiner shall receive a fee of ten dollars, this to be paid by the county
or city for which he is appointed; provided that in case of a person dying
while confined in any State-supported institution, such fee shall be paid
by the State.

§ 19-24. When autopsies made; reports made and preserved.—If in
the opinion of the * medical examiner or of the Chief Medical Examiner
it is advisable and in the public interest that an autopsy be made, or if
an autopsy is requested by the Commonwealth’s attorney or by the judge
of the circuit or corporation court of the county or city wherein such body
is, such autopsy shall be made by the Chief Medical Examiner, or by such
competent pathologist or toxicologist as may be designated by the Chief
Medical Examiner for the purpose. A full record and report of the facts
developed by the autopsy and findings of the person making such autopsy
shall be promptly made and filed with the * medical examiner and in the
office of the Chief Medical Examiner, and, if in the opinion of the Chief
Medical Examiner or the * medical examiner it is proper, or if requested
by the Commonwealth’s attorney of the county or city where death
occurred or of the county or city where any injury contributing to or
causing death was sustained, a copy of the report of the autopsy shall be
furnished such Commonwealth’s attorney. |

If, in any case of sudden, violent or suspicious death, the body is
buried without any * inquiry by a medical examiner as to the cause and
manner of death, or without any autopsy being held or performed, it shall
be the duty of the * medical examiner, upon being advised of such fact, to
notify the Commonwealth’s attorney thereof, who shall communicate the
same to the judge of the circuit or corporation court, as the case may be,
and such judge may, by an order entered in the common law order book
of his court, require that the body be exhumed and an autopsy performed
thereon by the Chief Medical Examiner or by a pathologist or toxicologist
designated by him for the purpose, and the pertinent facts disclosed by
the autopsy shall be communicated to the judge who ordered it, for such
action thereon as he, or the court of which he is judge, deems proper.

§ 19-25. Facilities and services available to * medical examiners.—
Under proper rules and regulations promulgated by the Chief Medical
Examiner the facilities of the central laboratory and the services of its
professional staff shall be made available to the * medical examiners in
their investigations under the provisions of this chapter.

§ 19-26. Reports and records received as evidence.—Reports of

investigations made by the Chief Medical Examiner or his assistants or by
* medical examiners, and records and reports of autopsies made under the
authority of this chapter, shall be received as evidence in any court or
other proceeding, and copies of records, photographs, laboratory findings
and records in the office of the Chief Medical Examiner or any * medical
examiner, when duly attested by the Chief Medical Examiner or * the
medical examiner in whose office the same are, shall be received as evidence
in any court or other proceeding for any purpose for which the original
could be received without any proof of the official character of the person
whose name is signed thereto.
2. All coroners in office on the effective date of this act shall continue
in office until the expiration of their respective terms, but after such effec-
tive date such office shall be designated and known as the office of medical
examiner. All the powers and duties heretofore conferred upon or per-
formed by coroners are transferred to and shall hereafter be vested in or
performed by medical examiners. Wherever the word “coroner” or
“coroners” appears in the Code of Virginia such word shall be deemed to
mean and refer to medical examiners provided for in § 19-21.