Is there a way to legally force an autopsy if you aren't next of kin?

March 16, 2020 11:53 AM

If a person were to go to court to force the authorities to perform an autopsy, and they are a relative, but not the next of kin, what would the legal document filed with the court be called? What would happen in the court system? This is a writing question - no one has died in a questionable way!
posted by ljshapiro to Law & Government (2 answers total)

As per many legal questions, the issue of jurisdiction looms large. Inquests, postmortem examinations and autopsies are regulated in pretty significantly different ways depending on where you are. As far as "force," well, probably the only people who can force the autopsy are forensic pathologists, and even then they're subject to some different incentives based on location — in a lot of America, an autopsy costs about $2k and is on the survivors to cover, because insurance and Medicare/Medicaid won't touch it (does nothing for a living patient, natch).

But different countries have different laws, and different states have different laws, and different counties have different laws, so… federalism?

In most places in America, a family member who isn't next of kin may request that a postmortem examination be performed, but the next of kin "inherits" the body as an obligation, so they have control over it. The police and medical examiner actually make the call about whether the death is reportable & requires investigation.
posted by klangklangston at 7:19 PM on March 16, 2020

If you pay for the autopsy I believe you can have one performed as a matter of the burial process. If there wasnt a question about how the person died though, I mean if it was ruled to be death by a certain fashion by police or hospital then why would one need an autopsy?
posted by The_imp_inimpossible at 11:27 PM on March 16, 2020