Texas Code of Criminal Procedure
§ 49.10 — AUTOPSIES AND TESTS
CR § 49.10Title 1. CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE · Ch. 49. INQUESTS UPON DEAD BODIES · Art. A. DUTIES PERFORMED BY JUSTICES OF THE PEACE
Statute text
View on source(a)At his discretion, a justice of the peace may obtain the opinion of a county health officer or a physician concerning the necessity of obtaining an autopsy in order to determine or confirm the nature and cause of a death.
(b)The commissioners court of the county shall pay a reasonable fee for a consultation obtained by a justice of the peace under Subsection (a) of this article.
(c)Except as required by Section 264.514, Family Code, for each body that is the subject of an inquest by a justice of the peace, the justice, in the justice's discretion, shall:
(1)direct a physician to perform an autopsy; or
(2)certify that no autopsy is necessary.
(d)A justice of the peace may not order a person to perform an autopsy on the body of a deceased person whose death was caused by Asiatic cholera, bubonic plague, typhus fever, or smallpox. A justice of the peace may not order a person to perform an autopsy on the body of a deceased person whose death was caused by a communicable disease during a public health disaster.
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