Sec. 10.35.01.08. The Hospital Agent

A. Appointment.

(1) Each hospital shall appoint a responsible agent, office, or individual with whom the medical examiner can communicate at any hour regarding medical examiner cases in the hospital, after receiving notification of them from the police authority.

(2) Each hospital shall notify the medical examiner of the agent so appointed.

B. Responsibilities.

(1) Notification of Police. In accordance with Regulation .02 of this chapter, whenever a hospital in Maryland has a medical examiner case, the hospital agent shall report the case to the local law enforcement agency with jurisdiction in that subdivision of the State. The local law enforcement agency so notified shall transmit the information to the medical examiner’s investigator on duty.

(2) A health care facility may not refuse the medical examiner access to a body which is the subject of a medical examiner’s case at any time. In order to prevent destruction or alteration of evidence, once death is determined, the hospital shall follow medical examiner guidance as to management of the body of the deceased. The medical examiner shall respond to the location of the body, investigate the case, and arrange for transportation of the body.

(3) Preliminary Hospital Reports. The hospital agent designated in accordance with Regulation .08 of this chapter shall submit promptly to the medical examiner, for each medical examiner case, the following information:

(a) The name and age, if known, of each decedent;

(b) The date and time of admission;

(c) Time of death;

(d) Diagnosis, if made; and

(e) Place, date, time, and manner of accident, or violence, if any, and other information that the Medical Examiner may request.

(4) Medical Examiner Requests. The hospital agent shall promptly respond to a medical examiner request for records and specimens. Failure to provide requested information within 24 hours will result in a report to the Office of Health Care Quality.

(5) If, during a routine autopsy by a hospital pathologist, evidence is encountered which indicates that the death should be under the jurisdiction of the medical examiner:

(a) The death then shall become a medical examiner case;

(b) The hospital agent immediately shall notify the police or sheriff, who will in turn notify the medical examiner; and

(c) The hospital pathologist shall discontinue the autopsy pending the arrival of the medical examiner.

(6) Clinical and Autopsy Reports from Hospitals. Whenever a medical examiner case is autopsied in a hospital, the hospital agent shall submit to the medical examiner, without delay, a clinical summary report, preferably filled out by the physician most familiar with the case, and a provisional anatomical diagnosis, and later a copy of the final autopsy report.