Illinois General Assembly - Illinois Compiled Statutes

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55 ILCS 5/3-3015

(55 ILCS 5/3-3015) (from Ch. 34, par. 3-3015)

Sec. 3-3015.

Circumstances under which autopsy to be performed.

(a) Where a death has occurred and the circumstances concerning
the death are suspicious, obscure, mysterious, or otherwise unexplained
and in the opinion of the examining physician or the coroner the cause of
death cannot be established definitely except by autopsy, and where a death
has occurred while being pursued, apprehended, or taken into custody by or
while in the custody of any law enforcement agency, it is declared that the
public interest requires that an autopsy be performed, and it shall be the
duty and responsibility of the coroner to cause an autopsy to be performed,
including the taking of x-rays and the performance
of other medical tests as the coroner deems appropriate.

(b) The coroner shall instruct involved parties that embalming of the body
is not to be conducted until the toxicology samples are drawn.
If a child dies from suspicious or unexplained
circumstances, the coroner shall secure the services of a pathologist.  The
Department of Public Health shall provide coroners and pathologists with a
child death autopsy protocol.

(c) If the coroner determines it advisable to exhume a body for the
purpose of investigation or autopsy or both, and the coroner would have
been authorized under this Section to perform an investigation or autopsy
on the body before it was interred, the coroner may exhume the body after
consulting on the matter with the state's attorney and upon the order of
the circuit court directing the exhumation upon the petition of the state's attorney.

(Source: P.A. 86-962; 87-317; 87-419; 87-895.)