N.M. Stat. § 24-12-4 (2026)

required.
    A. An autopsy or post-mortem examination may be performed on the body of a
decedent by a physician or surgeon whenever consent to the procedure has been given
by:

       (1)    written authorization signed by the decedent during the person's lifetime;

       (2)     authorization of a person or on behalf of any person whom the decedent
designated in writing during the person's lifetime to take charge of the decedent's body
for burial or other purposes;
       (3)    authorization of the decedent's surviving spouse;

      (4)     authorization of an adult child, parent or adult brother or sister of the
decedent if there is no surviving spouse or if the surviving spouse is unavailable,
incompetent or has not claimed the body for burial after notification of the death of the
decedent;

       (5)    authorization of any other relative of the decedent if none of the persons
enumerated in Paragraph (4) of this subsection is available or competent to give
authorization; or

      (6)     authorization of the public official, agency or person having custody of the
body for burial if none of the persons enumerated in Paragraphs (2) through (5) of this
subsection is available or competent to give authorization.

   B. An autopsy or post-mortem examination shall not be performed under
authorization given pursuant to the provisions of Paragraph (4) of Subsection A of this
section by any one of the persons enumerated if, before the procedure is performed,
any one of the other persons enumerated objects in writing to the physician or surgeon
by whom the procedure is to be performed.

   C. An autopsy or post-mortem examination may be performed by a pathologist at
the written direction of the district attorney or the district attorney's authorized
representative in any case in which the district attorney is conducting a criminal
investigation.

    D. An autopsy or post-mortem examination may be performed by a pathologist at
the direction of the state, district or deputy medical investigator when the state, district
or deputy medical investigator suspects the death was caused by a criminal act or
omission or if the cause of death is obscure.

    E. For purposes of this section, "autopsy" means a post-mortem dissection of a
dead human body in order to determine the cause, seat or nature of disease or injury
and includes the retention of tissues customarily removed during the course of autopsy
for evidentiary, identification, diagnosis, scientific or therapeutic purposes.

History: 1953 Comp., § 12-7-9, enacted by Laws 1965, ch. 86, § 1; reenacted by 1973,
ch. 354, § 4; 1978 Comp., § 24-12-4; 1993, ch. 129, § 1; 2023, ch. 162, § 4.

                                      ANNOTATIONS

Cross references. — For medical investigations generally, see Chapter 24, Article 11
NMSA 1978.
The 2023 amendment, effective July 1, 2023, substituted "deceased" with "decedent"
throughout the section; and in Paragraph A(5), after "enumerated in", deleted
"Paragraph (2) through" and added "Paragraph".

The 1993 amendment, effective June 18, 1993, made minor stylistic changes
throughout Subsection A and added Subsection E.

Purpose of Subsection D is to authorize a medical investigator to order an autopsy
when he suspects that criminal conduct caused a death or that the cause of a death is
obscure, even when no consent is obtained. In re Johnson, 1980-NMSC-069, 94 N.M.
491, 612 P.2d 1302.

State registrar shall issue permit to disinter when medical investigator so
requires pursuant to the duties and responsibilities of his office. In re Johnson, 1980-
NMSC-069, 94 N.M. 491, 612 P.2d 1302.

Requirement of notice of intended autopsy or disinterment. — Under some
circumstances due process may require than an interested relative be given notice of an
intended autopsy or disinterment of a deceased. In re Johnson, 1980-NMSC-069, 94
N.M. 491, 612 P.2d 1302.

Religious freedom suit where consent not given. — The right given by this statute to
a number of alternative persons to authorize an autopsy is not co-extensive with the
right of any of those same statutorily-named persons to assert a violation of a personal
religious freedom if his consent was not obtained. Smialek v. Begay, 1986-NMSC-049,
104 N.M. 375, 721 P.2d 1306, cert. denied, 479 U.S. 1020, 107 S. Ct. 677, 93 L. Ed. 2d
727.

Immunity for wrongful decision to perform autopsy. — In an action for damages on
the basis of an alleged wrongful decision to perform an autopsy, even if this section,
which provides for consent for postmortem examinations created a private cause of
action, it did not override the state medical investigator's grant of immunity under the
Tort Claims Act [41-4-1 to 41-4-27 NMSA 1978]. Begay v. State, 1985-NMCA-117, 104
N.M. 483, 723 P.2d 252, rev'd on other grounds, Smialek v. Begay, 1986-NMSC-049,
104 N.M. 375, 721 P.2d 1306.

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 22A Am. Jur. 2d Dead Bodies §§ 59,
60, 64 to 69.

Removal and reinterment of remains, 21 A.L.R.2d 472.

Power of court to order disinterment and autopsy or examination for evidential purposes
in a civil case, 21 A.L.R.2d 538.

Immunity from liability for damages in tort of state or governmental unit in operating
hospital, 25 A.L.R.2d 203, 18 A.L.R.4th 858.
Insurance policy, time for making autopsy or making demand therefor, 30 A.L.R.2d 837.

Disinterment in criminal cases, 63 A.L.R.3d 1294.

Liability for wrongful autopsy, 18 A.L.R.4th 858.

Civil liability in conjunction with autopsy, 97 A.L.R.5th 419.

25A C.J.S. Dead Bodies § 8(3).