KRS 72.025: Circumstances requiring post -mortem examination to be performed by

coroner.

Coroners shall require a post -mortem examination to be performed in the following

circumstances:

(1) When the death of a human being appears to be caused by homicide or violence;

(2) When the death of a human being appears to be the result of suicide;

(3) When the death of a human being appears to be the result of the presence of drugs

or poisons in the body;

(4) When the death of a human being appears to be the result of a motor vehicle

accident and the operator of the motor vehicle left the scene of the a ccident or the

body was found in or near a roadway or railroad;

(5) When the death of a human being occurs while the person is in a state mental

institution or mental hospital when there is no previous medical history to explain

the death, or while the person is in police custody, a jail or penal institution;

(6) When the death of a human being occurs in a motor vehicle accident and when an

external examination of the body does not reveal a lethal traumatic injury;

(7) When the death of a human being appears to be the result of a fire or explosion;

(8) When the death of a child appears to indicate child abuse prior to the death;

(9) When the manner of death appears to be other than natural;

(10) When human skeletonized remains are found;

(11) When post -mortem decomposition of a human corpse exists to the extent that

external examination of the corpse cannot rule out injury or where the

circumstances of death cannot rule out the commission of a crime;

(12) When the death of a human being appears to be the result of drowning;

(13) When the death of an infant appears to be caused by sudden infant death syndrome

in that the infant has no previous medical history to explain the death;

(14) When the death of a human being occurs as a result of an accident;

(15) When the death of a human being occurs under the age of forty (40) and there is no

past medical history to explain the death;

(16) When the death of a human being occurs at the work site and there is no apparent

cause of death such as an injury or when ind ustrial toxics may have contributed to

the cause of death;

(17) When the body is to be cremated and there is no past medical history to explain the

death;

(18) When the death of a human being is sudden and unexplained; and

(19) When the death of a human being occurs and the decedent is not receiving treatment

by a licensed physician and there is no ascertainable medical history to indicate the

cause of death.