Rhode Island General Laws
Chapter 23-4 - Office of State Medical Examiners
Section 23-4-4. - Jurisdiction.

§ 23-4-4. Jurisdiction.
The office of state medical examiners shall have the authority to make postmortem examinations, to undertake inquests, and to perform autopsies where there may be in its judgment a reasonable belief that the manner of death could be pronounced as:
(1) Death by a homicide, suicide, or casualty;
(2) Death due to a criminal abortion;
(3) Death due to an accident involving lack of due care on the part of a person other than the deceased;
(4) Death which is the immediate or remote consequences of any physical or toxic injury incurred while the deceased person was employed;
(5) Death due to the use of addictive or unidentifiable chemical agents; or
(6) Death due to an infectious agent capable of spreading an epidemic within the state.
History of Section.P.L. 1973, ch. 169, § 1.