§ 5205. Death certificate when no attending physician and in other circumstances; autopsy
(a) When a person dies from violence, or suddenly when in apparent good health or when
unattended by a physician or a recognized practitioner of a well-established church,
or by casualty, or by suicide or as a result of injury or when in jail or prison,
or any psychiatric hospital, or in any unusual, unnatural, or suspicious manner, or
in circumstances involving a hazard to public health, welfare, or safety, the head
of the household, the jailer, or the superintendent of a psychiatric hospital where
such death occurred, or the next of kin, or the person discovering the body or any
doctor notified of the death, shall immediately notify the medical examiner who resides
nearest the town where the death occurred and immediately upon being notified, such
medical examiner shall notify the State’s Attorney of the county in which the death
occurred. The State’s Attorney shall thereafter be in charge of the body and shall
issue such instructions covering the care or removal of the body as he or she shall
deem appropriate until he or she releases same.
(b) The medical examiner and a designated law enforcement officer shall thereupon together
immediately make a proper preliminary investigation.
(c) Unless the cause and manner of death is uncertain, such medical examiner shall complete
and sign a certificate of death. The medical examiner and the designated law enforcement
officer shall each submit a report of investigation to the State’s Attorney and the
Chief Medical Examiner. If, however, the cause or circumstances of death are uncertain,
he or she shall immediately so advise the State’s Attorney of the county where the
death occurred and notify the Chief Medical Examiner.
(d) The State’s Attorney of each county, with the advice of the Commissioner of Public
Safety or his or her designee, the sheriff, and the Chief of Police of any established
Police Department, shall prepare a list of law enforcement officers in his or her
county qualified to make an investigation and report. This list shall be made available
to the medical officers concerned and such other persons as the State’s Attorney deems
proper.
(e) If an undertaker or embalmer shall, in the course of his or her employment, find evidence
of physical violence on the body or evidence of an unlawful act sufficient to indicate
to such a person that death might have been the result of an unlawful act, he or she
shall immediately notify the State’s Attorney of the county where the body is then
located and shall proceed no further with the preparation and embalming process of
such body until permitted to do so by the State’s Attorney.
(f) The State’s Attorney or Chief Medical Examiner, if either deem it necessary and in
the interest of public health, welfare, and safety, or in furtherance of the administration
of the law, may order an autopsy to be performed by the Chief Medical Examiner or
under the Chief Medical Examiner’s direction. Upon completion of the autopsy, the
Chief Medical Examiner shall submit a report to such State’s Attorney and the Attorney
General and shall submit a report of death to the State Registrar. Upon the written
request of a federal prosecutor or a prosecutor in another state, the Chief Medical
Examiner shall submit a report of a death to the requesting office.
(g) When a person who is committed to the custody of the Department of Corrections or
who is under the supervision of the Department of Corrections dies, the Commissioner
of Corrections may request to be provided with a copy of any and all reports generated
pursuant to subsection (f) of this section. No such request shall be granted where
the medical examiner is unable to determine a manner of death or the manner of death
is classified as a homicide. In other circumstances, the request shall be granted
in the discretion of the Medical Examiner for good cause shown. Reports disclosed
pursuant to this subsection shall remain confidential as required by law and shall
not be considered to be a public record pursuant to 1 V.S.A. § 317. (Amended 1967, No. 254 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 1-3, eff. Feb. 20, 1968; 1969, No. 128, § 2; 1969, No. 265 (Adj. Sess.), § 12; 1971, No. 33, § 7; 1991, No. 191 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. May 19, 1992; 2003, No. 128 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. May 24, 2004; 2003, No. 157 (Adj. Sess.), § 13; 2013, No. 96 (Adj. Sess.), § 99; 2017, No. 46, § 50, eff. July 1, 2019; 2021, No. 115 (Adj. Sess.), § 11, eff. July 1, 2022.)