2015 Law Change Resources

When the new legislative session laws go into effect on August 1, 2015, changes to statute 390 will require all coroner and medical examiner offices to comply with the following criteria:

1. Every coroner or medical examiner in office on or after July 1st in the state of Minnesota must maintain and make publicly available a statement of policy or principles to be used for communicating with families during a death investigation.

 2. Section 390.11, subdivision 2b allows for religious objection to autopsy by the representative of the decedent, defined as the person with the right to control disposition of the body, and includes requirements that good faith efforts be made to notify the representative before autopsy is performed and to provide verbal and written information to the representative.

 There are additional details contained within the bill and a copy (SF 1694) linked below. For your convenience, the links below may assist you in meeting the requirements of the statute. You may also want to consult with your county attorney to make sure that you are in compliance with these changes to the statute.

If you have any questions regarding the information in this memo, please feel free to contact any of the offices via the contact information on their respective brochures.

SF 1694

Fast Facts for Religious Objections

Religious Objection to Autopsy

HCME Information for Families

MMEO Principles for communicating with family

MMEO brochure

SMRMEO Brochure

SMRMEO Certificate of Religious Belief