Under Michigan law, deaths are reported to the Medical Examiner in the following circumstances:
- Deaths during medical procedures, whether diagnostic or therapeutic, in any location, if the reason for the procedure is to treat an injury or if the death is unexpected and/or results from the procedure itself
- Deaths in the workplace
- Deaths while in the custody of police or public jurisdiction
- Found bodies
- Maternal deaths resulting from abortion
- Unexpected infant deaths
Deaths which should be reported to the Medical Examiner include:
- All those which result, either directly or indirectly, from injury, whether by accident or intended, self-inflicted or caused by another person. Injury includes poisoning and drug ingestion or injection. The interval (passage of time) between the injury and the death, whether it be minutes or months, does not change the requirement for reporting the death.
- Unexpected and unexplained deaths of persons presumed to have been in good health or for whom no history of serious medical problems or progressive primary disease is known.