(a) An authorized post-mortem official acting under the control or direction of the chief medical examiner or a county medical examiner or performing an investigation pursuant to a court order or an order of a district attorney general is authorized to obtain, upon written request, or may subpoena through the appropriate district attorney general, all medical or hospital records maintained by individuals licensed under title 63 or by facilities licensed under title 68 that pertain to a case under investigation.
Terms Used In Tennessee Code 38-7-117
State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(b) An authorized post-mortem official acting under the control or direction of the chief medical examiner or a county medical examiner or performing an investigation pursuant to a court order or an order of a district attorney general is authorized, through the appropriate district attorney general, to obtain, by judicial subpoena or through a court order in accordance with § 33-3-105, all records maintained by facilities licensed under title 33 that pertain to a case under investigation.(c) As used in this section:
(1) “Authorized post-mortem official” means:
(A) The chief medical examiner;(B) A county medical examiner;(C) A medical investigator;(D) A coroner;(E) A deputy or assistant state medical examiner or forensic pathologist under the control or direction of the chief medical examiner; or(F) A deputy or assistant county medical examiner or forensic pathologist under the control or direction of a county medical examiner; and(2) “Case under investigation” means any time during which an authorized post-mortem official conducts an investigation into a case of death.
