By Pitts                                              H.B. No. 2386
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the mandating that an autopsy be performed on all
    1-3  children six years of age and under who die suddenly and
    1-4  unexpectedly and who are otherwise healthy.
    1-5        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-6        SECTION 1.  Article 49.10, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
    1-7  amended to read as follows:
    1-8        Art. 49.10.  Autopsies and Tests.  (a)  At his discretion, a
    1-9  justice of the peace may obtain the opinion of a county health
   1-10  officer or a physician concerning the necessity of obtaining an
   1-11  autopsy in order to determine or confirm the nature and cause of a
   1-12  death.
   1-13        (b)  The commissioners court of the county shall pay a
   1-14  reasonable fee for a consultation obtained by a justice of the
   1-15  peace under Subsection (a) of this article.
   1-16        (c)  For each body that is the subject of an inquest by a
   1-17  justice of the peace, the justice shall:
   1-18              (1)  direct a physician to perform an autopsy; or
   1-19              (2)  certify that no autopsy is necessary.
   1-20        (d)  A justice of the peace may not order a person to perform
   1-21  an autopsy on the body of a deceased person whose death was caused
   1-22  by Asiatic cholera, bubonic plague, typhus fever, or smallpox.
   1-23        (e)  A justice of the peace shall order an autopsy performed
    2-1  on a body if:
    2-2              (1)  the justice determines that an autopsy is
    2-3  necessary to determine or confirm the nature and cause of death;
    2-4  <or>
    2-5              (2)  the deceased person was a child under six years of
    2-6  age who died suddenly and unexpectedly, but was otherwise healthy;
    2-7  or
    2-8              (3)  directed to do so by the district attorney,
    2-9  criminal district attorney, or, if there is no district attorney or
   2-10  criminal district attorney, the county attorney.
   2-11        (f)  A justice of the peace shall request a physician to
   2-12  perform the autopsy.  A physician who performs an autopsy as
   2-13  required by Subsection (e)(2) of this article must have training
   2-14  and experience in pathology, toxicology, and histology.
   2-15        (g)  The commissioners court shall pay a reasonable fee to a
   2-16  physician performing an autopsy on the order of a justice of the
   2-17  peace, if a fee is assessed.
   2-18        (h)  The commissioners court shall pay a reasonable fee for
   2-19  the transportation of a body to a place where an autopsy can be
   2-20  performed under this article if a justice of the peace orders the
   2-21  body to be transported to the place.
   2-22        (i)  If a justice of the peace determines that a complete
   2-23  autopsy is unnecessary to confirm or determine the cause of death,
   2-24  the justice may order a physician to take or remove from a body a
   2-25  sample of body fluids, tissues, or organs in order to determine the
    3-1  nature and cause of death.  Except as provided by Subsection (j) of
    3-2  this article, a justice may not order any person other than a
    3-3  physician to take samples from the body of a deceased person.
    3-4        (j)  A justice of the peace may order a physician, qualified
    3-5  technician, chemist, registered professional nurse, or licensed
    3-6  vocational nurse to take a specimen of blood from the body of a
    3-7  person who died as the result of a motor vehicle accident if the
    3-8  justice determines that circumstances indicate the person may have
    3-9  been driving while intoxicated.
   3-10        (k)  A justice of the peace may order an investigative or
   3-11  laboratory test to determine the identity of a deceased person.
   3-12  After proper removal of a sample from a body, a justice may order
   3-13  any person specially trained in identification work to complete any
   3-14  tests necessary to determine the identity of the deceased person.
   3-15        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   3-16  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   3-17  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   3-18  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   3-19  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.