WAUPACA COUNTY GUIDELINES
FOR NOTIFICATION OF THE MEDICAL EXAMINER
{Based on Wis. Statute 979.01;HFS 135; Wis. Act 336; and Waupaca County Policy)
ANY PERSON having knowledge of the death of any person who had died under any of the following circumstances shall report such a death IMMEDIATELY to the Waupaca County Medical Examiner:
- All deaths in which there are unexplained, unusual or suspicious circumstances.
- All homicides;
- All suicides;
- All suspected SIDS deaths;
- All deaths following an abortion;
- All deaths due to poisoning, whether homicidal, suicidal or accidental;
- All deaths involving a boat, snowmobile, all terrain vehicle, bicycle or motor vehicle, regardless of the time span;
- All deaths following accidents, whether the injury is or is not the primary cause of death;
- All deaths where there was no physician in attendance within 30 days preceding death;
- When a physician refuses to sign a death certificate, either due to absence of the physician, or unwillingness or inability of the physician or his designee, for any reason, to sign the death certificate within 5 days after the pronouncement of death;
- All deaths occurring outside a hospital or nursing home (this includes hospice patients and community based retirement facilities);
- All deaths where the body is to be donated to a school of medicine or other facility for research, training, or other purposes;
- All deaths when the death is pronounced in the outpatient or emergency department of the hospital;
- All deaths under anesthesia;
- All deaths following medical misadventure or suspected medical misadventure;
- All deaths occurring within 24 hours of admission to the hospital;
- All deaths of a fetus greater than 21 weeks of gestation.