Ark. Code Ann. § 12-12-315 (2020)

1. 1. The county coroner, prosecuting attorney, and either the county sheriff or the chief of police of the municipality in which the death of a human being occurs shall be promptly notified by any physician, law enforcement officer, undertaker or embalmer, jailer, or coroner or by any other person present or with knowledge of the death if:
      1. The death appears to be caused by violence or appears to be the result of a homicide or a suicide or to be accidental;
      2. The death appears to be the result of the presence of drugs or poisons in the body;
      3. The death appears to be a result of a motor vehicle accident, or the body was found in or near a roadway or railroad;
      4. The death appears to be a result of a motor vehicle accident and there is no obvious trauma to the body;
      5. The death occurs while the person is in a state mental institution or hospital and there is no previous medical history to explain the death, or while the person is in police custody or jail other than a jail operated by the Division of Correction;
      6. The death appears to be the result of a fire or an explosion;
      7. The death of a minor child appears to indicate child abuse prior to death;
      8. Human skeletal remains are recovered or an unidentified deceased person is discovered;
      9. Postmortem decomposition exists to the extent that an external examination of the corpse cannot rule out injury, or in which the circumstances of death cannot rule out the commission of a crime;
      10. The death appears to be the result of drowning;
      11. The death is of an infant or a minor child under eighteen (18) years of age;
      12. The manner of death appears to be other than natural;
      13. The death is sudden and unexplained;
      14. The death occurs at a work site;
      15. The death is due to a criminal abortion;
      16. The death is of a person where a physician was not in attendance within thirty-six (36) hours preceding death, or, in prediagnosed terminal or bedfast cases, within thirty (30) days;
      17. A person is admitted to a hospital emergency room unconscious and is unresponsive, with cardiopulmonary resuscitative measures being performed, and dies within twenty-four (24) hours of admission without regaining consciousness or responsiveness, unless a physician was in attendance within thirty-six (36) hours preceding presentation to the hospital, or, in cases in which the decedent had a prediagnosed terminal or bedfast condition, unless a physician was in attendance within thirty (30) days preceding presentation to the hospital;
      18. The death occurs in the home; or
      19. 1. The death poses a potential threat to public health or safety.
          2. Upon receiving notice of a death that poses a potential threat to public health or safety, the county coroner shall immediately notify the Department of Health.
   2. Nothing in this section shall be construed to require an investigation, autopsy, or inquest in any case in which death occurred without medical attendance solely because the deceased was under treatment by prayer or spiritual means in accordance with the tenets and practices of a well-recognized church or religious denomination.
2. With regard to any death in a correctional facility, the county coroner and the State Medical Examiner shall be notified, and when previous medical history does not exist to explain the death, the Division of Arkansas State Police shall be notified.
3. A violation of the provisions of this section is a Class A misdemeanor.

History. Acts 1969, No. 321, § 5; 1973, No. 509, § 1; 1979, No. 864, § 10; 1985, No. 216, § 1; A.S.A. 1947, §§ 42-615, 42-1212; Acts 1993, No. 1302, § 1; 1995, No. 311, § 2; 2001, No. 80, § 2; 2007, No. 194, § 1; 2007, No. 594, § 1; 2009, No. 165, § 3; 2009, No. 1286, § 1; 2019, No. 910, §§ 700, 701.

A.C.R.C. Notes. Acts 2001, No. 80, § 2, stated that “Arkansas Code 12-12-315(a) is amended to read as follows:” and then set out only subdivision (a)(1) of the section. As subdivision (a)(2) was neither contained in nor deleted from (a) as set out in Acts 2001, No. 80, the act was interpreted as amending subdivision (a)(1) only.

Amendments. The 2007 amendment by No. 194 substituted “under eighteen (18) years of age” for “in cases in which there is no previous medical history to explain the death” in (a)(1)(K).

The 2007 amendment by No. 594 added (a)(1)(S) and made related changes.

The 2009 amendment by No. 165 substituted “Department of Health” for “Department of Human Services” in (a)(1)(S)(ii), and made a minor punctuation change.

The 2009 amendment by No. 1286 rewrote the introductory language of (a)(1); substituted “or jail other than a jail operated by the Department of Correction” for “a jail or a penal institution” in (a)(1)(E); added (b); and redesignated former (b) as (c).

The 2019 amendment substituted “Division of Correction” for “Department of Correction” in (a)(1)(E); and substituted “Division of Arkansas State Police” for “Department of Arkansas State Police” in (b).

Cross References. Coroner may collect and secure decedent's prescription medication, § 14-15-306.

Coroner's investigation, § 14-15-302.

Fines, § 5-4-201.

Imprisonment, § 5-4-401.