By law, the Jefferson County Coroner/Medical Examiner's Office must investigate when notified of deaths that occur in Jefferson County in any of the following situations:

• Accidents
• Homicides or suicides
• Cases involving suspicion of criminal violence or criminal neglect
• Suspected criminal abortion
• Sudden unexplained deaths
• Deaths thought to present a hazard to public health
• Cases in which a body is altered by fire, decomposition, or other means that would preclude visual identification
• Deaths of persons incarcerated in penal institutions.

"In these cases, family authorization for an autopsy by the Coroner's Office is not required," says Robert M. Brissie, MD, director of the Division of Forensic Pathology. "To avoid confusion, physicians should not approach families for permission in such cases until the coroner/ medical examiner has declined to perform an autopsy.

"It is also important to note that, if an individual is injured as a result of a situation that occurs in Jefferson County and that person then travels to another county and subsequently dies there as a result of that injury, the case still falls under the jurisdiction of the Jefferson County Coroner's Office," Dr. Brissie says.

Similarly, if the injury occurs in another county and the person travels to Jefferson County for treatment and subsequently dies in Jefferson County as a result of that injury, the Jefferson County Coroner/Medical Examiner's Office does not have jurisdiction.

The Jefferson County Coroner/Medical Examiner's Office conducts its examinations and autopsies at Cooper Green Hospital. "However, in the event that a UAB physician desires an autopsy examination to be performed, the Jefferson County Coroner's Office should be contacted first," says Dr. Brissie. If an autopsy is not authorized by the Coroner's Office, the body can be released back to the university for autopsy following the external examination, if proper authorization has been obtained from the next of kin.

Organ donation may still be possible when an autopsy is performed, but physicians should contact the Coroner's Office at 930-3603 prior to approaching family members, so that proper arrangements can be made. "We always try to allow family members to make organ donations," says Dr. Brissie. "However, our office should always be called first. This saves time, as well as a potentially embarrassing situation if the county cannot allow donation." For more information on death certificates, visit the SCR Web site, https://scr.hs.uab.edu/, click on UAB Health System and enter "death certificates" in the search box.