(a) After investigating a death, if the county medical examiner or a designated assistant is satisfied that the death was not caused by criminal act or omission and that there are no suspicious circumstances about the death, then the county medical examiner, or designated assistant, may execute a death certificate as required by law, and authorize release of the body for final disposition on a certificate as prescribed by the Alabama Department of Public Health. (b) The county medical examiner shall contact the office of the district attorney and the chief medical examiner of the Department of Forensic Sciences under the following circumstances: (1) If the deceased is unidentified. (2) If the county medical examiner suspects a death was caused by a criminal act or omission. (3) If the cause of death is obscure. (c) In the event of a death qualifying under subsection (b), the county medical examiner shall further examine the body, take, retain, and examine or have examined whatever tissues, biological fluids, or other evidence from the body that he or she deems necessary to determine the cause, manner, or circumstances of death and the identity of the deceased. The county medical examiner shall then execute a death certificate, as required by law, and also shall authorize release of the body for final disposition by executing a certificate required by the Alabama Department of Public Health.
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