Ga Death Investigation Act

The Georgia Death Investigation Act (O.C.G.A. 45-16-20) requires that the coroner or county medical examiner of the county where the body is found or the death occurs be notified and that a medical examiner's inquiry be made in all deaths that occur in this state that meet the following criteria:

  1. As a result of violence;
  2. By suicide or casualty;
  3. Suddenly when in apparent good health;
  4. In any suspicious or unusual manner, with particular attention to those individuals 16 years of age and under;
  5. After birth but before seven years of age if the death is unexpected or unexplained;
  6. As a result of an execution carried out pursuant to the imposition of the death penalty under Article 2 of Chapter 10 of Title 17;
  7. When an inmate of a state hospital or a state, county, or city penal institution;
  8. After having been admitted to a hospital in an unconscious state and without regaining consciousness within 24 hours of admission;
  9. As a result of an apparent drug overdose;
  10. Who is a pregnant female or a female who was pregnant within 365 days prior to such female’s death; provided, however, that this paragraph shall not apply to a female whose death resulted from an incidental or accidental cause, including a motor vehicle accident, or from any other event or condition where it is apparent that the death was not causally related to the care of or physiology of pregnancy or its maintenance; or
  11. When unattended by a physician.