BILL REQ. #:  S-1139.2 

READ FIRST TIME 02/11/13.   

     AN ACT Relating to reports and records of autopsies and postmortems; amending RCW 68.50.105; and providing an effective date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1   RCW 68.50.105 and 2011 c 61 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     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 practitioner, the prosecuting attorney or law enforcement agencies having jurisdiction, public health officials, the department of labor and industries in cases in which it has an interest under RCW 68.50.103, or the secretary of the department of social and health services or his or her designee in cases being reviewed under RCW 74.13.640. Nothing in this chapter prohibits a coroner, or his or her designee, or medical examiner, or his or her designee, from discussing his or her conclusions as to the cause, manner, and mechanism of death in cases where actions of a law enforcement officer have been determined to be a proximate cause of the death or in cases where the death occurs in a penitentiary or institution.
     The coroner, the medical examiner, or the attending physician shall, upon request, meet with the family of the decedent to discuss the findings of the autopsy or postmortem. For the purposes of this section, the term "family" means the surviving spouse, state registered domestic partner, or any child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, brother, or sister of the decedent, or any person who was guardian of the decedent at the time of death.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   This act takes effect January 1, 2014.