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Duties of the medical examiner
Florida Statutes Ch. 406.11, FAC 11G-2

A. The medical examiner is required by law to determine the cause and manner of death when a person dies: 
1. of criminal violence; 
2. by accident;
3. by suicide; 
4. suddenly, when in apparent good health; 
5. unattended by a practicing physician; 
6. in any prison or penal institution; 
7. in police custody;
8. in any suspicious or unusual circumstance;
9. by criminal abortion; 
10. by poison; 
11. by disease constituting a threat to public heath; or 
12. by disease, injury or toxic agent resulting from employment. 

B. Authority: 
§ "(2)(a) The district medical examiner shall have the authority in any case coming under subsection (1) to perform, or have performed, whatever autopsies or laboratory examinations he or she deems necessary and in the public interest to determine the identification of or cause or manner of death of the deceased or to obtain evidence necessary for forensic examination." (s. 406.11, Florida Statutes) 

C. The need for complete investigation of deaths under medical examiner jurisdiction was recognized when Florida Statutes 406 was written: 
§ "…Any person who knowingly fails or refuses to report such death and circumstances, who refuses to make available prior medical or other information pertinent to the death investigation, or who, without an order from the office of the district medical examiner, willfully touches, removes or disturbs the body, clothing or any article upon or near the body...shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree..." (s. 406.12, Florida Statutes, emphasis added)

D. Any death falling under the jurisdiction of the medical examiner requires that the medical examiner: 
§ "…notify the appropriate law enforcement official having jurisdiction…" (FAC 11G-2.001(5(c))), 
and
§ "…ensure that the next of kin is notified that the medical examiner's office is investigating the death…contact with the next of kin, or the attempt to contact, shall be documented in the medical examiner's case file, whether such contact or attempt to contact is made by the Medical Examiner's Office or through other persons or agencies such as hospital personnel, law enforcement agencies, funeral homes or friends of the deceased." (FAC 11G-2.001(5(e))) 

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