Autopsy Reports Should NOT be Made Public

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Autopsy Reports Should NOT be Made Public

• Jamie Baker 5814
• Section 619

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Current Law

• Under current Commission on Medicolegal
  Investigations regulations, the complete records
  of all Chief Medical Examiner Office
  investigations are made available to

• the deceaseds family
• any federal, state, or local government agency or
  public health authority investigating the death
• insurance companies with a legitimate interest in
  the death
• all parties in civil proceedings
• treating physicians

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Earnhardt 3

• 7- Time Winston Cup Champion
• Died February 18, 2001 at Daytona 500
• Sustained Massive Injuries After Crashing into
  the Wall

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CASE FACTS
Campus Communications Inc. V. Estate of Dale
Earnhardt
1. Campus Communications claims that the Public
Records Act is unconstitutional.
2. It was enacted on March 29, 2001 therefore,
Campus seeks an order to require the medical
examiner to release the autopsy photographs.
3. Campus feels that the possibility that the
pictures will be too gruesome or traumatic is not
enough to deny the public from viewing
Earnhardts complete autopsy record.
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Court Ruling

• Photographs, video, audio recordings of an
  autopsy should remain confidential.
• These describe deceased in a graphic
  disturbing manner such that if heard/viewed/public
  ized
• May cause sorrow, trauma, humiliation or
  emotional injury to immediate family of deceased
  as well as memory of deceased.

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IT IS NOT OUR RIGHT TO KNOW
Nondisclosure!!

• Soldiers Killed
• World Trade Center Victims
• Oklahoma City Bombing Tragedy
• DC Sniper Shootings

7
Death Rates
Death rates are based in year 2002 per 1,000
people.
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REFERENCES

• Hodge, Jr. Samuel D. Due Process. The Legal
  Environment of the New Millennium. McGraw-Hill
  Companies, 2003. 146-148.
• OLR Bill Analysis. An Act Concerning Access to
  Autopsy Records. 1 October 2002.
  000014BA.htm
• Bonner, Lynn. Access to Autopsy Photos Debated.
  Newsobserver.com. 2 April 2003.erver.com/legislature/story/2400633p2235694c.htl
• The Fact Book 2002. Central Intelligence
  Agency. 19 March 2003. factbook/fields/2066.html