RI S2891

Restructures the State Medical Examiners Commission from 12 members (including ex officio members) to a 5-member State Postmortem Advisory Commission appointed by the governor, requiring members to be physicians with autopsy experience

Creates formal appeals process allowing persons of interest (spouse, adult children, parents, siblings, grandparents, or guardians) to request amendments to death certificate findings within 60 days, with appeals going to the director of health and ultimately to superior court

Updates definitions and terminology throughout the statute, including clarifying "autopsy," "cause of death," "manner of death," and "postmortem examination," and adding new definitions for "death investigation," "external inspection," and "person of interest"

Requires the chief medical examiner to be board-certified in both anatomic and forensic pathology by the American Board of Pathology, and mandates the office maintain accreditation by the National Association of Medical Examiners

Reduces the timeframe for reporting deaths of persons under 18 from 24 hours to 6 hours, and requires law enforcement agencies to provide the medical examiner's office with copies of all related reports, photographs, and videos