45-16-11 G
*** CODE SECTION ***  12/03/01
    
  45-16-11.
    
    (a)(1) Any other law to the contrary notwithstanding, the minimum
    annual salary of each coroner in any of the counties in this state
    in the following population brackets shall be fixed according to
    the population of the county in which he or she serves, as
    determined by the United States decennial census of 1990 or any
    future such census.  Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (2)
    of this subsection, each such coroner shall receive an annual
    salary, payable in equal monthly installments from the funds of
    the coroner's county, of not less than the amount fixed in the
    following schedule:
    
        Population                                      Minimum Salary
          0 -- 11,889.......................................$ 1,200.00
     11,890 -- 19,999.......................................  2,400.00
     20,000 -- 34,999.......................................  3,600.00
    
    (2) On and after July 1, 2001, whenever the employees in the
    classified service of the state merit system receive a
    cost-of-living increase or general performance based increase of a
    certain percentage or a certain amount, the amounts fixed in the
    minimum salary schedule in paragraph (1) of this subsection, and
    in Code Section 45-16-11.1, or the amounts derived by increasing
    each of said amounts through the application of longevity
    increases pursuant to subsection (b) of this Code section, where
    applicable, shall be increased by the same percentage or same
    amount applicable to such state employees.  If the cost-of-living
    increase or general performance based increase received by state
    employees is in different percentages or different amounts as to
    certain categories of employees, the amounts fixed in the minimum
    salary schedule in paragraph (1) of this subsection, and in Code
    Section 45-16-11.1, or the amounts derived through the application
    of longevity increases, shall be increased by a percentage or an
    amount not to exceed the average percentage or average amount of
    the general increase in salary granted to the state employees.
    The Office of Planning and Budget shall calculate the average
    percentage increase or average amount increase when necessary.
    The periodic changes in the amounts fixed in the minimum salary
    schedule in paragraph (1) of this subsection, and in Code Section
    45-16-11.1, or the amounts derived through the application of
    longevity increases, as authorized by this paragraph shall become
    effective on the first day of January following the date that the
    cost-of-living increases received by state employees become
    effective; provided, however, that if the cost-of-living increases
    or general performance based increases received by state employees
    become effective on January 1, such periodic changes in the
    amounts fixed in the minimum salary schedule in paragraph (1) of
    this subsection, and in Code Section 45-16-11.1, or the amounts
    derived through the application of longevity increases, as
    authorized by this paragraph shall become effective on the same
    date that the cost-of-living increases or general performance
    based increases received by state employees become effective.
    
    (3) The county governing authority may supplement the minimum
    annual salary of the coroner in such amount as it may fix from
    time to time; but no coroner's compensation supplement shall be
    decreased during any term of office.  Any prior expenditure of
    county funds to supplement the coroner's salary in the manner
    authorized by this paragraph is ratified and confirmed. Nothing
    contained in this paragraph shall prohibit the General Assembly by
    local law from supplementing the annual salary of the coroner.
    
  (b) The amounts provided in paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of this
  Code section and Code Section 45-16-11.1, as increased by paragraph
  (2) of subsection (a) of this Code section, shall be increased by
  multiplying said amounts by the percentage which equals 5 percent
  times the number of completed four-year terms of office served by
  any coroner after December 31, 2000, effective the first day of
  January following the completion of each such period of service.
    
  (c) The minimum salaries provided for under this Code section shall
  be in addition to any fees paid by the county governing authority to
  the coroner on a per-call basis and in addition to any expenses.
    
  (d) The minimum salaries provided for in this Code section shall be
  considered as salary only.  Expenses for deputies, equipment,
  supplies, copying equipment, and other necessary and reasonable
  expenses for the operation of a coroner's office shall come from
  funds other than the funds specified as salary in this Code section.
    
  (e) This Code section shall not be construed to reduce the salary of
  any coroner in office on July 1, 2001; provided, however, that
  successors to such coroners in office on July 1, 2001, shall be
  governed by the provisions of this Code section. All local
  legislation in effect on July 1, 2001, or enacted thereafter
  affecting compensation for coroners of the various counties shall be
  of full force and effect except where the same provides for a salary
  lower than provided in this Code section, in which event this Code
  section shall prevail.

45-16-11.1 G
*** CODE SECTION ***  12/03/01
    
  45-16-11.1.
    
  In addition to the minimum salary provided for in Code Section
  45-16-11, in any county which is the site of more than one state
  correctional institution or prison for adults or juveniles and which
  compensates the county coroner by salary, the state shall compensate
  the county coroner in the amount of $110.00 for each state inmate
  death in such county.  The county coroner of such a county is
  authorized to accept the compensation provided in accordance with
  this Code section despite any local Act which requires such a
  coroner to send fees to the county treasury or the county governing
  authority.


45-16-11.2 G
*** CODE SECTION ***  12/03/01
    
  45-16-11.2.
    
  In addition to any salary, fees, or expenses now or hereafter
  provided by law, the governing authority of each of the counties in
  this state in the following population bracket is authorized to
  provide as contingent expenses for the operation of the office of
  coroner, and payable from county funds, a monthly expense allowance
  of not less than the amount fixed in the following schedule:
    
 Population                                  Minimum Monthly Expenses
 0 -- 34,999...................................................$ 50.00


45-16-20 G
*** CODE SECTION ***  12/03/01
    
  45-16-20.
    
  This article shall be known and may be cited as the "Georgia Death
  Investigation Act."

45-16-21 G
*** CODE SECTION ***  12/03/01
    
  45-16-21.
    
  As used in this article, the term:
    
    (1) "Autopsy" means the dissection of a dead body and the
    examination of bone, tissue, organs, and foreign objects for the
    purpose of determining the cause of death and circumstances
    surrounding the same, which procedure shall include as a minimum
    an external examination and the examination of the brain, neck and
    thoracic organs, and abdominal organs.
    
    (1.1) "Chief medical examiner" means the chief medical examiner
    appointed pursuant to Code Section 35-3-153.
    
    (2) "County medical examiner" means that office established in
    lieu of the office of coroner pursuant to Code Section 45-16-80 or
    any amendment to the Constitution continued pursuant to the
    authority of Article XI, Section I, Paragraph IV of the
    Constitution.
    
    (3) "Division" means the Division of Forensic Sciences of the
    Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
    
    (4) "External examination" means an external examination of a dead
    body but shall not include dissection of the body for any purpose
    except dissection which is necessary for and limited to
    procurement of blood or body fluids for toxicological or other
    analysis.
    
    (5) "Forensic consultant" means a person meeting the requirements
    and authorized to perform the duties specified in subsection (c)
    of Code Section 45-16-23.
    
    (6) "Inquest" means an official judicial inquiry before a coroner
    and coroner's jury for the purpose of determining the cause of
    death.
    
    (7) "Limited dissection" means the incision into or dissection of
    a dead body for diagnosis or evidence collection and the term
    includes without being limited to an external examination but does
    not include an individual examination of the:
    
      (A) Brain;
    
      (B) Neck organs;
    
      (C) Thoracic organs; and
    
      (D) Abdominal organs
    
    but may include an examination of any but not all of the
    categories of organs specified in subparagraphs (A) through (D) of
    this paragraph.
    
    (8) "Local medical examiner" means a person meeting the
    requirements and authorized to perform the duties specified in
    subsection (b) of Code Section 45-16-23.
    
    (9) "Medical examiner" means:
      (A) The chief medical examiner;
    
      (B) A regional medical examiner;
    
      (C) A county medical examiner;
    
      (D) A local medical examiner; or
    
      (E) Any person who is employed by the state and appointed as a
      medical examiner as of December 1, 1989, who continues to
      perform the duties and exercise the powers of a medical examiner
      under this article when such performance and exercise are within
      the scope of such employment.
    
    (10) "Medical examiner's inquiry" means an inquiry made by a
    medical examiner into the circumstances surrounding a death which
    is required to be reported under the provisions of Code Section
    45-16-24, which inquiry may include, but is not required to
    include, a scene investigation, an external examination, a limited
    dissection, an autopsy, or any combination thereof.
    
    (11) "Medical examiner's investigator" means a person meeting the
    requirements and authorized to perform the duties specified in
    subsection (d) of Code Section 45-16-23.
    
    (12) "Peace officer in charge" means any peace officer of the
    Georgia State Patrol or agent of the Georgia Bureau of
    Investigation, sheriff or sheriff's deputy, peace officer assigned
    to the coroner's office, county policeman, city policeman, or city
    detective who may be in charge of the investigation of any case
    involving a death covered by Code Sections 45-16-27 and 45-16-32.
    
    (13) "Regional medical examiner" means a medical examiner who is
    employed by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and who is a
    pathologist certified in forensic pathology by the American Board
    of Pathology appointed by the chief medical examiner pursuant to
    Code Section 35-3-153.
    
    (14) "Scene investigation" means an examination by the medical
    examiner or medical examiner's investigator of the area
    surrounding a dead body or area where a death or agonal event
    occurred.
    
    (15) "Unattended death," "died unattended," or "died unattended by
    a physician" means a death where a person dies of apparently
    natural causes and has no physician who can certify the death as
    being due to natural causes.  If the suspected cause of death
    directly involves any trauma or complication of such trauma, the
    death must be reported to the coroner or county medical examiner.
    An unattended death also occurs when a person is admitted in an
    unresponsive state to a hospital and dies within 24 hours of
    admission.



45-16-22 G
*** CODE SECTION ***  12/03/01
    
  45-16-22.
    
  (a) The director of the division is authorized and directed to
  cooperate with and assist the peace officers in charge, medical
  examiners, and coroners of the state in making the facilities of the
  division available for the performing of medical examiners'
  inquiries on dead bodies as required by this article.
    
  (b) The county governing authority shall after consulting with the
  coroner, if any, be authorized to appoint one or more local medical
  examiners who shall be licensed physicians or pathologists.  The
  chief medical examiner may, at the request of a county governing
  authority, authorize one or more licensed physicians or pathologists
  at convenient locations throughout the state to act as local medical
  examiners in performing medical examiners' inquiries as required by
  this article.  The chief medical examiner shall confer with local
  county officials in making appointments of regional and local
  medical examiners.  Any regional or local medical examiner appointed
  by the chief medical examiner shall have such jurisdiction within
  this state as designated by the chief medical examiner.
    
  (c) Except as otherwise provided in this article, it shall be in the
  sole discretion of the medical examiner to determine whether or not
  an autopsy or limited dissection is required; provided, however,
  that the medical examiner shall give due consideration to the
  opinions of the coroner and the peace officer in charge regarding
  the requirements of accepted investigation techniques and the rules
  of evidence applicable thereto.
    
  (d) In the event that any local medical examiner or regional medical
  examiner is unable or unwilling to serve in any case, the coroner or
  the peace officer in charge may call upon the chief medical
  examiner, who shall perform a medical examiner's inquiry or direct
  another medical examiner to perform such inquiry.
    
  (e) For each external examination so performed, in cases where
  limited dissection or autopsy of the body is not required, the
  medical examiner shall receive the fee set in accordance with the
  provisions of Code Section 35-3-151. The fee in each case is to be
  paid from funds of the county in which the act was committed; or, if
  the county in which the act was committed is unknown, the fee shall
  be paid from funds of the county in which the body was found.  In
  the event the place in which the act was committed is not known but
  is later established, the county in which the act was committed
  shall be responsible for payment of fees incurred by the medical
  examiner.  Subject to funds being appropriated or otherwise
  available for such purpose, the chief medical examiner shall provide
  transportation of the deceased person to the site of the autopsy, if
  such autopsy is to be performed by a state or regional medical
  examiner employed by the state, and to return the body to the county
  where the death occurred.
    
  (f) When death occurs in a hospital as a direct result and
  consequence of acts or events taking place in a county other than
  the one in which such death occurs, the body shall be returned to
  the county in which such acts or events took place.  When a dead
  body is found in a county in which the acts or events leading to
  death did not occur, it shall be returned to the county in which the
  acts or events did occur, if known.  The coroner or local medical
  examiner of the county in which such acts or events took place shall
  assume jurisdiction and the medical examiner's inquiry, if any
  performed, shall be paid for from funds of the county in which such
  acts or events took place.
    
  (g) In the event that a medical examiner's inquiry is performed by
  the chief medical examiner or an employee thereof, no fee therefor
  shall be imposed pursuant to this Code section.  In the event that a
  medical examiner's inquiry is performed by a medical examiner
  regularly employed at a fixed compensation by any county or group of
  counties, no fee shall be imposed upon any county or group of
  counties employing that medical examiner at a fixed compensation.
    
  (h) Any person holding office as a medical examiner pursuant to an
  appointment of the state medical examiner on May 1, 1997, shall
  continue in the exercise of his or her functions and duties until
  such person's successor has been duly appointed.