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Texas Code of Criminal Procedure - CRIM P Art. § 49A.063. Autopsies

Current as of January 01, 2024 | Updated by Findlaw Staff

<Text of article effective April 1, 2027. >

(a) A justice of the peace may obtain the opinion of a county health officer or a physician regarding whether an autopsy is necessary to determine or confirm the nature and cause of a death.

(b) Unless an autopsy is required under Subsection (c)(2), for each body that is the subject of an inquest by a justice of the peace, the justice shall, in the justice's discretion:

(1) direct a physician to perform an autopsy;  or

(2) certify that an autopsy is not necessary.

(c) A justice of the peace shall order an autopsy to be performed on a body if:

(1) the justice determines that an autopsy is necessary to determine or confirm the nature and cause of death;

(2) the deceased person was a child younger than six years of age and the death is determined under Section 264.514, Family Code, to be unexpected or the result of abuse or neglect;  or

(3) the district attorney, criminal district attorney, or, if there is not a district or criminal district attorney, the county attorney directs the justice to order the autopsy.

(d) A justice of the peace shall request a physician to perform the autopsy.

(e) A justice of the peace may not order a person to perform an autopsy on the body of a deceased person whose death was caused by:

(1) Asiatic cholera;

(2) bubonic plague;

(3) typhus fever;

(4) smallpox;  or

(5) a communicable disease during a public health disaster.

(f) If a person is injured in one county and dies in another county as a result of that injury, the attorney representing the state in the prosecution of felonies in the county in which the injury occurred may request a justice of the peace of the county in which the death occurred to order an autopsy to be performed on the body of that person.  If the justice of the peace orders the autopsy to be performed, the county in which the person's injury occurred shall reimburse the county in which the person's death occurred.

(g) The commissioners court of the county shall pay a reasonable fee:

(1) to a physician performing an autopsy on the order of a justice of the peace, if a fee is assessed;

(2) for an opinion obtained by a justice of the peace under Subsection (a);  and

(3) for the transportation of a body on the order of a justice of the peace to a place where an autopsy may be performed under this article or Article 49A.064.

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Cite this article: FindLaw.com - Texas Code of Criminal Procedure - CRIM P Art. § 49A.063. Autopsies - last updated January 01, 2024 | https://codes.findlaw.com/tx/code-of-criminal-procedure/crim-ptx-crim-pro-art-49a-063/

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