Kentucky law requires that the Coroner’s Office investigate any death of a sudden, violent, or suspicious nature. Any death that occurs outside of a hospital or hospice setting or within 24 hours of admission to the hospital requires notification of the Coroner’s Office.
The principal responsibility of the Coroner is to assure that a death did not occur as a result of foul play. To help determine the manner and cause of death, the investigator may use a variety of investigative techniques including interviews with family members and physicians, scene analysis and photography, and physical examination of the decedent. Oftentimes, these aspects of the investigation will provide the information needed to close the death investigation. In some cases, it is possible that the family physician will be allowed to certify the death certificate.
Sometimes, family members feel as if they are under suspicion or being asked overly personal questions. The investigation is meant to bring forth enough information to explain why your loved one died. What may seem like very personal or trivial information to you may be a wealth of knowledge for the Coroner’s Office. Please remember it is the Coroner’s job to speak for the dead and assure that justice prevails among society.
If an autopsy is to be performed will depend on a number of factors. Age, medical history, and the circumstances surrounding the death are major considerations. The Coroner’s Office may defer an autopsy if the deaths are known, verified, and supported by pre-existing medical conditions. Deaths involving the possibility of criminal activity, children, and those in good health prior to death will most likely be autopsied. Likewise, deaths in which the scene investigation suggests an external event (electrocution, drowning, etc.) will probably undergo autopsies. Furthermore, Kentucky law requires autopsies in certain cases.
Coroners realize that this is a very personal and sensitive matter and some people object to an autopsy. Kentucky law REQUIRES the Coroner to perform autopsy examination in certain cases such as a child’s death. In other cases, autopsies are necessary for Coroners to perform a competent investigation, and Kentucky law recognizes that the Coroner must have the authority to order an autopsy despite family objections. If you object to an autopsy for personal or religious reasons, the Coroner will discuss the issue and attempt to resolve the matter in a way that will provide you with peace of mind but still allow a thorough inquiry. Regrettably, though, there are cases that the Coroner must mandate an autopsy regardless of your wishes.
If you have concerns that you feel can only be addressed by autopsy, please tell the Coroner as soon as possible. The information may cause the Coroner to authorize the procedure. Sometimes, family members desire an autopsy to reveal the presence of any hereditary related diseases or for their own personal knowledge. If this is the case, but death falls outside of the Coroner’s Office criteria for autopsy examination, the Coroner will assist you in securing the services of a pathologist for a private autopsy. In this situation, you would be responsible for the costs of the procedure.
Coroners have other scientific tests that they utilize alone or in conjunction with autopsy examination to aid our investigation. It is fairly routine for blood and other body fluids to be collected and sent for alcohol and drug screening. In fact, state law requires such tests in motor vehicle deaths. Other tests may include blood cultures to determine infections or x-rays to detect the presence of fractures.
Most often personal effects will be transferred to the authorized next-of-kin immediately. Otherwise, you will receive them after the Coroner’s investigation is closed and the body is released from the Coroner’s Office to the funeral home. If the items become evidence in a criminal case, the State’s Attorney’s Office will decide when the items may be released.
In addition to being a tragic and emotional personal event, death is also a profound legal event that brings about the possibilities of court action, the processing of insurance claims, and the settlement of estates. Positive identification of the decedent, accomplished by the examination of circumstantial and scientific evidence, is a necessary prerequisite for the fulfillment of any legal event.
In cases where the remains are disfigured, decomposed, or burned; advanced identification processes involving fingerprint recovery, DNA analysis, or dental comparison may be necessary to identify the deceased with scientific certainty. These tests may require days or weeks to process and may delay final disposition of the decedent. Undoubtedly, this delay is emotionally troubling and difficult to bear, but it is absolutely essential to the investigation and subsequent certification of death.
Collection of the deceased’s medication is a routine and standard practice. The medication provides a “quick reference” to the types of diseases the deceased suffered. Additionally, if further blood tests are performed, the laboratory may need the actual medications to help interpret the results. As federal law prohibits possession of medications by anyone other than the person to whom it was prescribed, the medications will not be returned. They will be destroyed at the conclusion of the investigation.
If you have not already done so, you will need to select a funeral home for arrangements after the preliminary investigation and/or autopsy are completed. Also, locating important documents such as insurance policies and veteran’s papers may be useful. You will undoubtedly have more questions than this FAQs page will answer. It’s very important to write your questions down for later reference. The Coroner’s staff will try to answer those questions or refer you to the person or agency that can.
Depending on circumstances regarding the death, death certificates may be available within a few days to several weeks. Although Coroners strive to process cases as expeditiously as possible, a competent death investigation requires time to gather and analyze facts, secure laboratory results, and assess other factors involved. The Coroner will provide the cause and manner of death for the death certificates.
Death certificates are filed with the Office of the Vital Statistics in Frankfort and are issued to the funeral home who cared for the decedent. Copies of death certificates are available from the funeral home or from the Office of Vital Statistics.
Also, a copy can be obtained from VitalChek.com
Coroner’s record and reports will be available after the death is issued. The following reports are available from the office: Coroner’s report, autopsy report, toxicology report. To obtain these copies, an Open Records Request Form must be completed, and a state issued identification card must be shown before records will be released.
Kentucky Coroner's Association
(502) 639-0005 | Jimmy Pollard, Executive Director
P.O. Box 730, Lawrenceburg, KY 40342
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