SENATE BILL 352

57th 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 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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