Bill > S976

Introduced Session

This bill, designated as the "Revised State Medical Examiner Act," repeals the "State Medical Examiner Act" P.L.1967, c.234 (N.J.S.A.52:17B-78 et seq.), and establishes the Office of the Chief State Medical Examiner in, but not of, the Department of Health to replace the Office of the State Medical Examiner in the Department of Law and Public Safety. Office of the Chief State Medical Examiner. The bill establishes the Office of the Chief State Medical Examiner in the Executive Branch of State Government and allocates the office, in but not of, the Department of Health. The bill specifies that the office is to be independent of any supervision or control by the department or by any board or officer of the department. The bill abolishes the existing Office of the State Medical Examiner in the Department of Law and Public Safety and transfers all of its functions, powers, and duties to the newly established Office of the Chief State Medical Examiner. The bill specifies that this transfer will be conducted in accordance with all applicable State laws governing the transfer of State agencies. The bill provides that the Office of the Chief State Medical Examiner is under the direct the supervision of a Chief State Medical Examiner, who (as with the current State Medical Examiner) is required to be a State-licensed physician and a qualified forensic pathologist. The bill specifies that the Chief State Medical Examiner will be appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, for a term of five years, and may be removed from office by the Governor for certain enumerated causes. The bill provides that the Chief State Medical Examiner is to report directly to the Commissioner of Health and is to function independently within the Department of Health with respect to the medical examiner system and the conducting of medicolegal death investigations. The bill provides that the Chief State Medical Examiner is responsible for ensuring that the entire medical examiner system is adequately equipped and staffed to deliver medicolegal death investigation services throughout the State, including the establishment of advisory standards of funding for staff, equipment, and facilities for all medical examiner offices. The bill empowers the Chief State Medical examiner to: appoint persons to the position of Deputy Chief State Medical Examiner and to appoint and to prescribe the duties of such other employees as may be necessary; provide advice to the governing body of a county or counties concerning the appointment of county or intercounty medical examiners; establish minimum training and experiential requirements of eligibility for those persons appointed as Deputy Chief State Medical Examiner or as a county or intercounty medical examiner or assistant county or intercounty medical examiner; retain supervisory power over personnel employed by the Office of the Chief State Medical Examiner; provide direct supervision and oversight of any county or intercounty medical examiner facility that the Chief State Medical Examiner reasonably determines is experiencing problems that preclude its effective functioning; and provide professional oversight concerning the operations of the county and intercounty medical examiner offices as they relate specifically to the conduct of medicolegal death investigations and the performance of autopsies. The bill requires the Chief State Medical Examiner to adopt certain rules and regulations. Under the bill, these rules and regulations include the establishment of uniform procedures for conducting medicolegal death investigations, and minimum performance and operating standards for, and standards of professional conduct for personnel of, the Office of the Chief State Medical Examiner and the office of each county or intercounty medical examiner. The bill provides the Chief State Medical Examiner with direct supervision and oversight authority over any medical examiner facility operating under State jurisdiction. The bill authorizes the Chief State Medical Examiner to intervene in, and to assume control over, any ongoing medicolegal death investigation in the State, regardless of whether the Chief State Medical Examiner has received permission from, or a request for intervention by, a county or an intercounty medical examiner performing the investigation. County / Intercounty Medical Examiner Offices. The bill requires each county to establish and maintain an office of the county medical examiner, and permits the governing bodies of two or more counties to jointly establish and maintain an intercounty medical examiner office. The bill requires two or more counties seeking to jointly maintain an intercounty medical examiner office on a cooperative or regional basis to seek the advice of the Chief State Medical Examiner concerning such an arrangement before establishing and maintaining a joint office. The bill provides that each county or intercounty medical examiner office will continue to be directed by a county or intercounty medical examiner, who (as with current county medical examiners) will be appointed by the governing body of the county or counties for a term of five years. The bill specifies that in appointing persons to the position of county or intercounty medical examiner, the governing body of a county or counties must seek the advice of the Chief State Medical Examiner regarding the appointment. The bill provides that the Chief State Medical Examiner may remove a county or intercounty medical examiner from office for certain enumerated causes, in consultation with the governing body of the county or counties that appointed the county or intercounty medical examiner. The bill requires the governing body of a county or counties that appointed a county or intercounty medical examiner to consult the advisory funding standards adopted by the Chief State Medical Examiner when establishing county budgets for medical examiner services. The bill specifies that the budgets for and spending by each county and intercounty medical examiner office are to be made available for review by the Chief State Medical Examiner, are required to be published and made available to the public as part of the county budget, and are required to detail certain costs associated with the operation of the office. Medicolegal Investigations of a Death. The bill enumerates certain instances in which a medical examiner is required to conduct a medicolegal investigation of a death in this State. These instances include: -- death where criminal violence appears to have taken place; -- death by accident or unintentional injury; -- death under suspicious or unusual circumstances; -- death from causes that might constitute a threat to public health and safety; -- death not caused by readily recognizable diseases, disability, or infirmity; -- sudden death when the decedent was in apparent good health; -- suicide; -- death of a child under 18 years of age from any cause; -- sudden or unexpected death of an infant or child under three years of age or a fetal death occurring without medical attendance; -- death due to criminal abortion; -- death where suspicion of abuse of a child, family or household member, or elderly or disabled person exists; -- death within 24 hours of admission to a hospital or a nursing home; -- death in custody, in a jail or correctional facility, or in a State or county psychiatric hospital, State developmental center, or other public or private institution or facility for persons with mental illness, developmental disabilities, or brain injury; -- death related to occupational illness or injury; -- death due to thermal, chemical, electrical, or radiation injury; -- death due to toxins, poisons, medicinal or recreational drugs, or a combination thereof; -- known or suspected non-natural death; -- any person found dead under unexplained circumstances; -- the discovery of skeletal remains; or -- a death occurring under such other circumstances as may be prescribed by regulation of the Chief State Medical Examiner. Medical Examiner Review Team. The bill establishes a Medical Examiner Review Team. The bill specifies that this team is responsible for reviewing and issuing recommendations regarding: disputed medicolegal death investigation findings that are the subject of a dispute between the Chief State Medical Examiner and any county or intercounty medical examiner; and any removal of the Chief State Medical Examiner or any county or intercounty medical examiner. The bill specifies that the team is comprised of seven members, including: the Commissioner of Health, the Commissioner of Human Services, the Attorney General, and the Chief State Medical Examiner, or their designees, who shall serve ex officio, and three public members appointed by the Governor. The bill specifies that the team must meet at least once annually and must meet within 45 days after receiving a report of a dispute or notification of a removal from office. The bill specifies that team members will not receive compensation, but will be reimbursed for expenses incurred, within the limits of funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the team for its purposes. Issuance of an Annual Report. The bill requires the Office of the Chief State Medical Examiner, in conjunction with the Medical Examiner Review Team, to issue an annual report and to make that report available to the public. The bill specifies that the annual report must, at a minimum, contain the following: the budget and expenditures for each medical examiner office in this State; the total number of cases received, reviewed, accepted, and investigated by each medical examiner office; statistics of determined causes of death; and an evaluation of the performance of each medical examiner office and the medical examiner system. New Jersey State Medical Examiner Toxicology Laboratory. The bill requires the Office of the Chief State Medical Examiner to maintain and supervise a State toxicology laboratory. The bill specifies that the laboratory will provide necessary toxicology services to the Chief State Medical Examiner, Deputy Chief State Medical Examiner, each county or intercounty medical examiner, and each assistant county or assistant intercounty medical examiner in the performance of medicolegal death investigations in this State. The bill specifies that the Chief State Medical Examiner, Deputy Chief State Medical Examiner, county or intercounty medical examiner, and assistant county or assistant intercounty medical examiner requiring the services of a toxicology laboratory must enlist the services of the State laboratory unless the Chief State Medical Examiner provides permission for use of another. The bill requires the Chief State Medical Examiner to adopt rules and regulations for the operations and use of the State laboratory. Appeal Process for Persons in Interest. The bill establishes an appeal process for a "person in interest" (as defined by the bill) to request a correction of a medical examiner's findings and conclusions on the cause and manner of death recorded on a death certificate. The bill specifies that such a request cannot be made in a case in which there is a finding of a homicide, and specifies that those requests that are made must be initiated by the person in interest within 60 days after the Chief State Medical Examiner, Deputy Chief State Medical Examiner, county or intercounty medical examiner, or assistant county or assistant intercounty medical examiner files the findings and conclusions on the cause and manner of death recorded on a death certificate. Repeals and Recodifications. The bill repeals certain statutes and repeals and recodifies the provisions of certain others. In particular, the bill repeals the following statutes, which are obviated by its provisions: -- P.L.1967, c.234 (N.J.S.A.52:17B-78 et seq.), the "State Medical Examiner Act," concerning the establishment and operation of the Office of the State Medical Examiner; and -- Sections 2 and 3 of P.L.1972, c.13 (N.J.S.A.52:17B-79.1 et seq.), concerning a prior transfer of power, duties, and functions of the State Medical Examiner within the Department of Law and Public Safety. The bill repeals the following statutes and recodifies their provisions in Title 26 of the Revised Statutes: -- N.J.S.40A:9-50, concerning the disinterment of dead bodies; -- P.L.1983, c.535 (N.J.S.A.52:17B-88.1 et seq.), concerning the performance of a dissection or autopsy by a medical examiner; -- P.L.1993, c.276 (N.J.S.A.52:17B-88.7 et seq.), concerning organ and tissue analysis and transplantation from a donor whose death is under investigation; -- Section 2 of P.L.2000, c.24 (N.J.S.A.52:17B-88.10), concerning standardized protocols for sudden child death autopsies; -- Section 2 of P.L.2005, c.227 (N.J.S.A.52:17B-88.11), concerning the participation of medical examiners in research activities with respect to children three years of age and younger; -- P.L.2009, c.151 (N.J.S.A.52:17B-88a), concerning notification to medical examiners of deaths occurring in certain facilities; and -- P.L.2013, c.91 (N.J.S.A.52:17B-8.12 et seq.), concerning medicolegal death investigations involving seizure disorders. Effective Date. The bill takes effect on the first day of the second month next following the date of enactment.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Christopher Bateman (R)*,  Joe Lagana (D)*,  Raj Mukherji (D)*,  Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D)*,  Joe Vitale (D)*,  Robert Gordon (D),  Lou Greenwald (D),  Angelica Jimenez (D),  Nancy Pinkin (D),  Teresa Ruiz (D), 

Approved P.L.2018, c.62. (on 07/03/2018)