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SENATE BILL 352
57
TH LEGISLATURE
-
STATE
OF
NEW
MEXICO
-
FIRST SESSION
,
2025
INTRODUCED BY
Katy M. Duhigg
AN ACT
RELATING TO MEDICAL INVESTIGATIONS; PROVIDING THAT PHOTOGRAPHIC
IMAGES TAKEN BY A STATE, DISTRICT OR DEPUTY MEDICAL
INVESTIGATOR ARE CONFIDENTIAL, ARE NOT PUBLIC RECORDS AND SHALL
NOT BE ACCESSIBLE TO THE PUBLIC OTHER THAN FOR USE OR POTENTIAL
USE IN A CIVIL OR CRIMINAL PROCEEDING.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. Section 24-11-7 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1961,
Chapter 91, Section 4, as amended) is amended to read:
"24-11-7. EXAMINATION--AUTOPSY--INQUEST.--If the deceased
is unidentified, the state, district or deputy medical
investigator may order the body fingerprinted and photographed.
When the state, district or deputy medical investigator
suspects a death was caused by a criminal act or omission or if
the cause of death is obscure, [he ] the medical investigator
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shall order an autopsy performed by a qualified pathologist
certified by the state board of medical examiners who shall
record every fact found in the examination tending to show the
identity and condition of the body and the time, manner and
cause of death. Photographic images taken by a state, district
or deputy medical investigator are confidential, are not public
records and shall not be accessible to the public other than
for use or potential use in a civil or criminal proceeding.
The pathologist shall sign the report under oath and deliver it
to the state, district or deputy medical investigator within a
reasonable time. The state, district or deputy medical
investigator may take the testimony of the pathologist and any
other persons, and this testimony, combined with the written
report of the pathologist, constitutes an inquest."
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