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| 2 | 2 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3980 FILED ON: 1/17/2025 |
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| 3 | 3 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2392 |
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| 4 | 4 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 5 | 5 | | _________________ |
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| 6 | 6 | | PRESENTED BY: |
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| 7 | 7 | | Marjorie C. Decker and Hannah Kane |
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| 8 | 8 | | _________________ |
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| 9 | 9 | | To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General |
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| 10 | 10 | | Court assembled: |
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| 11 | 11 | | The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill: |
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| 12 | 12 | | An Act relative to autopsy reports by the medical examiner. |
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| 13 | 13 | | _______________ |
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| 14 | 14 | | PETITION OF: |
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| 15 | 15 | | NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Marjorie C. Decker25th Middlesex1/17/2025Hannah Kane11th Worcester1/23/2025Bradley H. Jones, Jr.20th Middlesex1/30/2025 1 of 2 |
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| 16 | 16 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3980 FILED ON: 1/17/2025 |
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| 17 | 17 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2392 |
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| 18 | 18 | | By Representatives Decker of Cambridge and Kane of Shrewsbury, a petition (accompanied by |
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| 19 | 19 | | bill, House, No. 2392) of Marjorie C. Decker, Hannah Kane and Bradley H. Jones, Jr. relative to |
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| 20 | 20 | | autopsy reports by the medical examiner. Public Health. |
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| 21 | 21 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 22 | 22 | | _______________ |
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| 23 | 23 | | In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court |
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| 24 | 24 | | (2025-2026) |
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| 25 | 25 | | _______________ |
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| 26 | 26 | | An Act relative to autopsy reports by the medical examiner. |
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| 27 | 27 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority |
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| 28 | 28 | | of the same, as follows: |
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| 29 | 29 | | 1 SECTION 1. (a) Section 4 of chapter 38 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2022 |
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| 30 | 30 | | 2Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding the following paragraph:- |
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| 31 | 31 | | 3 If the medical examiner takes jurisdiction pursuant to this section, the medical examiner |
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| 32 | 32 | | 4shall conduct an autopsy on the body of such deceased person and provide an autopsy report to |
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| 33 | 33 | | 5anyone legally entitled to receive it within 90 days of the date that the medical examiner took |
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| 34 | 34 | | 6jurisdiction, except if the medical examiner provides a notice of delay to anyone legally entitled |
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| 35 | 35 | | 7to receive the autopsy report with the date the autopsy report will be complete and the reason for |
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| 36 | 36 | | 8the delay. |
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| 37 | 37 | | 9 (b) Not later than December 31 of each even-numbered year, the medical examiner shall |
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| 38 | 38 | | 10submit to the clerks of the house of representatives and the senate, and the joint committee on |
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| 39 | 39 | | 11public health, a report, including, but not limited to: 2 of 2 |
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| 40 | 40 | | 12 (i) the number of autopsies completed within 90 days of the date that the medical |
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| 41 | 41 | | 13examiner took jurisdiction; |
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| 42 | 42 | | 14 (ii) the number of autopsies that were not completed within 90 days of the date that the |
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| 43 | 43 | | 15medical examiner took jurisdiction; and |
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| 44 | 44 | | 16 (iii) the reasoning behind why the autopsies were not completed within said 90 days of |
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| 45 | 45 | | 17the date that the medical examiner took jurisdiction. |
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