72.020 Duty of person, hospital, or institution finding or possessing dead body -- Duties of coroner, law enforcement officer, embalmer, funeral director, or ambulance service. - Kentucky Statutes

Download pdf

Loading PDF...

72.020 Duty of person, hospital, or institution finding or possessing dead body -- Duties of coroner, law enforcement officer, embalmer, funeral director, or
ambulance service. (1) Any person, hospital, or institution, finding or having possession of the body of any person whose death occurred under any of the circumstances defined in subsections
(1) through (12) of KRS 72.025, shall immediately notify the coroner, or his deputy,
and a law enforcement agency, which shall report to the scene within a reasonable
time. No person shall remove the body or remove anything from the body until
directed to do so by the coroner or his deputy, after the law enforcement agency is
present or has failed, within a reasonable period of time, to respond. (2) The coroner shall take possession of any objects, medical specimens, or articles which, in his opinion, may be helpful in establishing the cause of death, and he can
make or cause to be made such tests and examinations of said objects as may be
necessary or useful in determining the cause of death. In the event that a criminal
prosecution arises, all such objects and articles together with reports of any
examinations made upon them, shall be retained by the coroner until their
production in evidence is required by the prosecuting authority, unless otherwise
directed by written order of the court in which such prosecution is pending. (3) Upon final disposition of each criminal prosecution under this section, the court shall by appropriate written order dispose of all objects retained under the
provisions of this section. (4) If the law enforcement officer at the scene has probable cause to believe that one of the conditions in subsection (1) of this section exists and the coroner refuses to
require a post-mortem examination, the officer shall immediately notify the county
or Commonwealth attorney who may proceed pursuant to KRS 72.445. (5) In all cases listed under KRS 72.025 in which a licensed embalmer, funeral director, or ambulance service is notified and is the first person at the scene of death other
than private citizens, he shall notify the coroner and if the death appears to fall
within the categories established in subsections (1) through (12) of KRS 72.025, he
shall notify a local law enforcement agency. Effective: July 15, 1982
History: Amended 1982 Ky. Acts ch. 195, sec. 2, effective July 15, 1982. -- Amended 1978 Ky. Acts ch. 93, sec. 7, effective June 17, 1978. -- Amended 1964 Ky. Acts
ch. 127, sec. 1. -- Recodified 1942 Ky. Acts ch. 208, sec. 1, effective October 1,
1942, from Ky. Stat. sec. 528.