Reporting Guidelines

These guidelines are intended to assist in determining what constitutes a Coroner/Medical Examiner Death Case and how to report a case.
  1. Reportable Deaths
  2. No 24-hour Rule
  3. Reporting Guidelines
  4. Reportable Injuries
The medical examiner has direct jurisdiction for Jackson and Cass Counties and is empowered by Missouri State Statutes # RSMo 58.720 to investigate deaths as a result of:
  • Violence by homicide, suicide, or accident;
  • Thermal, chemical, electrical or radiation injury;
  • Criminal abortions, including those self-induced;
  • Disease thought to be of hazardous and contagious nature or which might constitute a threat to public health;
  • Any person dies suddenly when in apparent good health;
  • When unattended by a physician, chiropractor, or an Accredited Christian Science Practitioner, during a period of 36 hours immediately preceding death;
  • While in custody of the law, or while an inmate in a public institution;
  • In any unusual or suspicious manner;
  • All child deaths, involving individuals below the age of 18 years:
    • These deaths include maternal or fetal deaths that may be caused from illegal interference with the pregnancy or from criminal activity, trauma or illicit drugs.
    • These include deaths caused by rapidly fatal illnesses, such as fulminant meningitis. Any death caused by highly infections agent capable of causing an epidemic should be reported to the Medical Examiner.
      Note: Deaths due to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) are usually not reportable.
    • Deaths that occur during employment or that are related to employment or deaths that occur in public places, such as buildings, streets, parks or other similar areas, must be reported.
    • Sudden and unexpected deaths,
    • Deaths for which the attending physicians cannot supply adequate or reasonable explanations,
    • Persons found dead without obvious causes of death