Washington · statute · Wash. Rev. Code ch. 68.50 · 47 active provisions
The jurisdiction of bodies of all deceased persons who come to their death suddenly when in apparent good health without medical attendance within the 36 hours preceding death; or where the circumstances of death indicate death was caused by unnatural or unlawful means; or where death occurs under suspicious circumstan…
A county coroner or county medical examiner or persons acting in that capacity shall be immune from civil liability for determining the cause and manner of death. The accuracy of the determinations is subject to judicial review.
It shall be the duty of every person who knows of the existence and location of human remains coming under the jurisdiction of the coroner or medical examiner as set forth in RCW 68.50.010 or 27.44.055, to notify the coroner, medical examiner, or law enforcement thereof in the most expeditious manner possible, unless s…
Whenever a coroner or medical examiner assumes jurisdiction over human remains and directs transportation of those remains by a funeral establishment, as defined in RCW 18.39.010, the reasonable costs of transporting shall be borne by the county if: (1) The funeral establishment transporting the remains is not providin…
It shall be unlawful for any cemetery under this chapter to refuse burial to any person because such person may not be of the Caucasian race.
All jewelry, moneys, papers, and other personal property of the deceased shall be inventoried immediately upon being taken into custody by the coroner or his or her appointees. The original of such lists shall be certified to by the coroner and kept as a public record at the county morgue.
(1) Any person, not authorized or directed by the coroner or medical examiner or their deputies, who removes the body of a deceased person not claimed by a relative or friend, or moves, disturbs, molests, or interferes with the human remains coming within the jurisdiction of the coroner or medical examiner as set forth…
Any physician or surgeon of this state, or any medical student under the authority of any such physician or surgeon, may obtain, as hereinafter provided, and have in his or her possession human dead bodies, or the parts thereof, for the purposes of anatomical inquiry or instruction.
(1) Any public agency required to provide for the disposition of human remains in any legal manner at public expense must surrender the human remains to:(a) Any physician or surgeon, to be used for the advancement of anatomical science, preference being given to medical schools in this state, for their use in the instr…
Every physician or surgeon before receiving the dead body must give to the board or officer surrendering the same to him or her a certificate from the medical society of the county in which he or she resides, or if there is none, from the board of supervisors of the same, that he or she is a fit person to receive such…
Any person violating any provision of RCW 68.50.060 through 68.50.080 shall upon conviction thereof be fined in any sum not exceeding five hundred dollars.
(1) The right to dissect a dead body shall be limited to cases specially provided by statute or by the direction or will of the deceased; cases where a coroner is authorized to hold an inquest upon the body, and then only as he or she may authorize dissection; and cases where the spouse, state registered domestic partn…
Autopsy or postmortem may be performed in any case where authorization has been given by a member of one of the following classes of persons in the following order of priority:(1) The surviving spouse or state registered domestic partner;(2) Any child of the decedent who is eighteen years of age or older;(3) One of the…
Any party by showing just cause may petition the court to have autopsy made and results thereof made known to said party at his or her own expense.
In an industrial death where the cause of death is unknown, and where the department of labor and industries is concerned, said department in its discretion, may request the coroner in writing to perform an autopsy to determine the cause of death. The coroner shall be required to promptly perform such autopsy upon rece…
(1) The cost of autopsy shall be borne by the county in which the autopsy is performed, except when requested by the department of labor and industries, in which case, the department shall bear the cost of such autopsy.(2)(a) Except as provided in (b) of this subsection, when the county bears the cost of an autopsy, it…
(1) Reports and records of autopsies or postmortems shall be confidential, except that the following persons may examine and obtain copies of any such report or record: The personal representative of the decedent as defined in RCW 11.02.005, any family member, the attending physician or *advanced registered nurse pract…
In any case in which an autopsy or postmortem is performed, the coroner or medical examiner, upon his or her own authority or upon the request of the prosecuting attorney or other law enforcement agency having jurisdiction, may make or cause to be made an analysis of the stomach contents, blood, or organs, or tissues o…
There shall be established in conjunction with the chief of the Washington state patrol and under the authority of the state forensic investigations council a state toxicological laboratory under the direction of the state toxicologist whose duty it will be to perform all necessary toxicologic procedures requested by a…
No dead body upon which the coroner, or prosecuting attorney, if there is not a coroner in the county, may perform an autopsy or postmortem, may be embalmed or make final disposition without the consent of the coroner having jurisdiction. Failure to obtain such consent is a misdemeanor. However, such autopsy or postmor…
Except in cases of dissection provided for in RCW 68.50.100, and where human remains are rightfully carried through or removed from the state for the purpose of burial elsewhere, human remains lying within this state, and the remains of any dissected body, after dissection, must be decently buried, undergo cremation, a…
No coroner, medical examiner, or his or her designee shall be liable, nor shall a cause of action exist, for any loss or damage based upon the release of any information related to his or her findings under RCW 68.50.105 if the coroner, medical examiner, or his or her designee acted in good faith in attempting to compl…
Every person who arrests, attaches, detains, or claims to detain any human remains for any debt or demand, or upon any pretended lien or charge, is guilty of a gross misdemeanor.
Every person who performs a disposition of any human remains, except as otherwise provided by law, in any place, except in a cemetery, a family burial ground, or a building dedicated exclusively for religious purposes, is guilty of a misdemeanor. Disposition of human remains following cremation, alkaline hydrolysis, or…
(1) Every person who removes human remains, or any part thereof, from a grave, vault, or other place where the same has been buried or deposited awaiting final disposition, without authority of law, with intent to sell the same, or for the purpose of securing a reward for its return, or for dissection, or from malice o…