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Current Status Bill Number:View additional legislative information at the LPITS web site.3437 Type of Legislation:General Bill GB Introducing Body:House Introduced Date:20010201 Primary Sponsor:Wilkins All Sponsors:Wilkins, Harrison, J. Brown, Rodgers Drafted Document Number:l:\council\bills\skb\18105som01.doc Companion Bill Number:301 Residing Body:House Current Committee:Judiciary Committee 25 HJ Subject:Medical examiners, county; coroners or their designee to perform certain duties in same manner as; Medical History Body Date Action Description Com Leg Involved ______ ________ ______________________________________ _______ ____________ House 20010221 Co-Sponsor added (Rule 5.2) by Rep. Rodgers ------ 20010220 Companion Bill No. 301 House 20010201 Introduced, read first time, 25 HJ referred to Committee Versions of This Bill
TO AMEND SECTION 17-5-250, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, AND SECTIONS 17-5-260, 17-5-265, 17-5-275, AND 17-5-300, ALL AS AMENDED, ALL RELATING TO THE DUTIES AND AUTHORITY OF THE OFFICE OF COUNTY MEDICAL EXAMINER, SO AS TO ADD THAT THE CORONER OR HIS DESIGNEE IN THE COUNTY IS ALSO AUTHORIZED TO PERFORM CERTAIN DUTIES AND REQUIRED TO MAKE CERTAIN NOTIFICATIONS IN THE SAME MANNER AS THE COUNTY MEDICAL EXAMINER.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Section 17-5-250 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 17-5-250. The county medical examiner, or any deputy medical examiner, the coroner or his designee, shall have the power to determine that an autopsy shall be made in addition to the powers vested in other law-enforcement officials to order an autopsy."
SECTION 2. The first paragraph of Section 17-5-260 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 419 of 1996, is further amended to read:
"If a person dies as a result of violence, apparent suicide, when in apparent good health, unattended by a physician, or in any suspicious or unusual manner or while an inmate of a penal or correctional institution or stillbirths not attended by a physician, a person having knowledge of the death immediately shall notify the county medical examiner's office and the coroner's office. This procedure also must be followed upon discovery of anatomical material suspected of being or determined to be a part of a human body."
SECTION 3. Section 17-5-265 of 1976 Code, as added by Act 164 of 1993, is amended to read:
"Section 17-5-265. The county medical examiner, the coroner, or their designees, within twenty-four hours or one working day, whichever occurs first, shall notify the department when a child dies in any county of the State:
(1) as a result of violence, when unattended by a physician, and in any suspicious or unusual manner; or
(2) when the death is unexpected and unexplained including, but not limited to, possible sudden infant death syndrome.
For the purposes of this section, a child is not considered to be 'unattended by a physician' when a physician has, before death, provided diagnosis and treatment following a fatal injury."
SECTION 4. Section 17-5-275 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 502 of 1994, is further amended to read:
"Section 17-5-275. If the home or premises last inhabited by a child is not the scene of the death of a child, the medical examiner, the coroner, or their designees, while conducting an investigation of the death, may petition the appropriate magistrate for a warrant to inspect the home or premises inhabited by the deceased before death. The magistrate shall issue the inspection warrant upon probable cause to believe that events in the home or premises may have contributed to the death of the child."
SECTION 5. Section 17-5-300, of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 334 of 1994, is further amended to read:
"Section 17-5-300. (a)(A) It is unlawful for any person to move or authorize removal of a body from the place where the body is found until the investigation is completed and such removal is authorized by the coroner, coroner's designee, county medical examiner or the deputy medical examiner in charge.
(b)(B) It is unlawful for any person to move or transport a body across the county line until the investigation of the case, the postmortem examination, or autopsy is complete and until removal of the body is authorized by the county medical examiner or one of his designated assistants, the coroner, or their designees.
Any person who violates this subsection is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall must be punished by a fine of not less than five hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than sixty days, or both.
(c)(C) If a county does not have a medical examiner commission as created by Section 17-5-220, authorization for removal of a body must be obtained from the county coroner or a deputy county coroner.
(d)(D) No coroner's jury shall be impaneled until the investigation is completed and copies of the reports of the county medical examiner and peace officer in charge are received by the coroner. The jury is not required to view the body."
SECTION 6. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
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