Full Text of HB0914 094th General Assembly
HB0914eng 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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HB0914 Engrossed |
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| AN ACT concerning coroners.
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| Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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| represented in the General Assembly:
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| Section 5. The Counties Code is amended by changing Section | 5 |
| 3-3013 as follows:
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| (55 ILCS 5/3-3013) (from Ch. 34, par. 3-3013)
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| Sec. 3-3013. Preliminary investigations; blood and urine | 8 |
| analysis;
summoning jury. Every coroner, whenever, as soon as | 9 |
| he knows or is
informed that the dead body of any person is | 10 |
| found, or lying within his
county, whose death is suspected of | 11 |
| being:
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| (a) A sudden or violent death, whether apparently | 13 |
| suicidal,
homicidal or accidental, including but not | 14 |
| limited to deaths apparently
caused or contributed to by | 15 |
| thermal, traumatic, chemical, electrical or
radiational | 16 |
| injury, or a complication of any of them, or by drowning or
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| suffocation, or as a result of domestic violence as defined | 18 |
| in the Illinois
Domestic
Violence Act of 1986;
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| (b) A maternal or fetal death due to abortion, or any | 20 |
| death due to a
sex crime or a crime against nature;
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| (c) A death where the circumstances are suspicious, | 22 |
| obscure,
mysterious or otherwise unexplained or where, in | 23 |
| the written opinion of
the attending physician, the cause | 24 |
| of death is not determined;
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| (d) A death where addiction to alcohol or to any drug | 26 |
| may have been
a contributory cause; or
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| (e) A death where the decedent was not attended by a | 28 |
| licensed
physician;
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| shall go to the place where the dead body is, and take charge | 30 |
| of the
same and shall make a preliminary investigation into the | 31 |
| circumstances
of the death. In the case of death without | 32 |
| attendance by a licensed
physician the body may be moved with |
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| the coroner's consent from the
place of death to a mortuary in | 2 |
| the same county. Coroners in their
discretion shall notify such | 3 |
| physician as is designated in accordance
with Section 3-3014 to | 4 |
| attempt to ascertain the cause of death, either by
autopsy or | 5 |
| otherwise.
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| In cases of accidental death involving a motor vehicle in | 7 |
| which the
decedent was (1) the operator or a suspected operator | 8 |
| of a motor
vehicle, or (2) a pedestrian 16 years of age or | 9 |
| older, the coroner shall
require that a blood specimen of at | 10 |
| least 30 cc., and if medically
possible a urine specimen of at | 11 |
| least 30 cc. or as much as possible up
to 30 cc., be withdrawn | 12 |
| from the body of the decedent in a timely fashion after
the | 13 |
| accident causing his death, by such physician as has been | 14 |
| designated
in accordance with Section 3-3014, or by the coroner | 15 |
| or deputy coroner or
a qualified person designated by such | 16 |
| physician, coroner, or deputy coroner. If the county
does not | 17 |
| maintain laboratory facilities for making such analysis, the
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| blood and urine so drawn shall be sent to the Department of | 19 |
| State Police or any other accredited or State-certified | 20 |
| laboratory
for analysis of the alcohol, carbon monoxide, and | 21 |
| dangerous or
narcotic drug content of such blood and urine | 22 |
| specimens. Each specimen
submitted shall be accompanied by | 23 |
| pertinent information concerning the
decedent upon a form | 24 |
| prescribed by such laboratory. Any
person drawing blood and | 25 |
| urine and any person making any examination of
the blood and | 26 |
| urine under the terms of this Division shall be immune from all
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| liability, civil or criminal, that might otherwise be incurred | 28 |
| or
imposed.
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| In all other cases coming within the jurisdiction of the | 30 |
| coroner and
referred to in subparagraphs (a) through (e) above, | 31 |
| blood, and whenever
possible, urine samples shall be analyzed | 32 |
| for the presence of alcohol
and other drugs. When the coroner | 33 |
| suspects that drugs may have been
involved in the death, either | 34 |
| directly or indirectly, a toxicological
examination shall be | 35 |
| performed which may include analyses of blood, urine,
bile, | 36 |
| gastric contents and other tissues. When the coroner suspects
a |
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| death is due to toxic substances, other than drugs, the coroner | 2 |
| shall
consult with the toxicologist prior to collection of | 3 |
| samples. Information
submitted to the toxicologist shall | 4 |
| include information as to height,
weight, age, sex and race of | 5 |
| the decedent as well as medical history,
medications used by | 6 |
| and the manner of death of decedent.
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| When the coroner suspects a death due to other than natural | 8 |
| causes, the coroner shall cause blood, tissue, and saliva | 9 |
| specimens, whenever possible, to be withdrawn from the body of | 10 |
| the decedent in a timely fashion. The coroner shall deliver | 11 |
| these specimens within 45 days of the collection of the | 12 |
| specimens to the Illinois Department of State Police, Division | 13 |
| of Forensic Services, for analysis and categorizing into | 14 |
| genetic marker groupings to be maintained by the Illinois | 15 |
| Department of State Police in the State central repository in | 16 |
| the same manner, and subject to the same conditions, as | 17 |
| provided in Section 5-4-3 of the Unified Code of Corrections.
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| Except in counties that have a jury commission, in cases of | 19 |
| apparent
suicide, homicide, or accidental death or in other | 20 |
| cases, within the
discretion of the coroner, the coroner shall | 21 |
| summon 8 persons of lawful age
from those persons drawn for | 22 |
| petit jurors in the county. The summons shall
command these | 23 |
| persons to present themselves personally at such a place and
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| time as the coroner shall determine, and may be in any form | 25 |
| which the
coroner shall determine and may incorporate any | 26 |
| reasonable form of request
for acknowledgement which the | 27 |
| coroner deems practical and provides a
reliable proof of | 28 |
| service. The summons may be served by first class mail.
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| the 8 persons so summoned, the coroner shall select 6 to serve | 30 |
| as the
jury for the inquest. Inquests may be continued from | 31 |
| time
to time, as the coroner may deem necessary. The 6 jurors | 32 |
| selected in
a given case may view the body of the deceased.
If | 33 |
| at any continuation of an inquest one or more of the original | 34 |
| jurors
shall be unable to continue to serve, the coroner shall | 35 |
| fill the vacancy or
vacancies. A juror serving pursuant to this | 36 |
| paragraph shall receive
compensation from the county at the |
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| same rate as the rate of compensation
that is paid to petit or | 2 |
| grand jurors in the county. The coroner shall
furnish to each | 3 |
| juror without fee at the time of his discharge a
certificate of | 4 |
| the number of days in attendance at an inquest, and, upon
being | 5 |
| presented with such certificate, the county treasurer shall pay | 6 |
| to
the juror the sum provided for his services.
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| In counties which have a jury commission, in cases of | 8 |
| apparent suicide or
homicide or of accidental death, the | 9 |
| coroner shall, and in other cases in
his discretion may, | 10 |
| conduct an inquest. The jury commission shall provide
at least | 11 |
| 8 jurors to the coroner, from whom the coroner shall select any | 12 |
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to serve as the jury for the inquest. Inquests may be | 13 |
| continued from time
to time as the coroner may deem necessary. | 14 |
| The 6 jurors originally chosen
in a given case may view the | 15 |
| body of the deceased. If at any continuation
of an inquest one | 16 |
| or more of the 6 jurors originally chosen shall be unable
to | 17 |
| continue to serve, the coroner shall fill the vacancy or | 18 |
| vacancies. At
the coroner's discretion, additional jurors to | 19 |
| fill such vacancies shall be
supplied by the jury commission. A | 20 |
| juror serving pursuant to this
paragraph in such county shall | 21 |
| receive compensation from the county at the
same rate as the | 22 |
| rate of compensation that is paid to petit or grand jurors
in | 23 |
| the county.
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| In addition, in every case in which domestic violence is | 25 |
| determined to be
a
contributing factor in a death, the coroner | 26 |
| shall report the death to the
Department of State Police.
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| All deaths in State institutions and all deaths of wards of | 28 |
| the State in
private care facilities or in programs funded by | 29 |
| the Department of Human
Services under its powers relating to | 30 |
| mental health and developmental
disabilities or alcoholism and | 31 |
| substance
abuse or funded by the Department of Children and | 32 |
| Family Services shall
be reported to the coroner of the county | 33 |
| in which the facility is
located. If the coroner has reason to | 34 |
| believe that an investigation is
needed to determine whether | 35 |
| the death was caused by maltreatment or
negligent care of the | 36 |
| ward of the State, the coroner may conduct a
preliminary |
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| investigation of the circumstances of such death as in cases of
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| death under circumstances set forth in paragraphs (a) through | 3 |
| (e) of this
Section.
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| (Source: P.A. 93-1005, eff. 1-1-05.)
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