CopyCited 18 times | Published | Supreme Court of Florida | 11 Fla. L. Weekly 557
...r to falsely represent himself as a member of the medical examiner's staff; that Shutze & Techman P.A. performed autopsies on a piecework basis and directly benefited from the number of autopsies performed; that the autopsy was performed contrary to section 872.04, Florida Statutes (1981); that appellant Gauger was untrained in opthamology and unqualified to be designated under section 732.9185, Florida Statutes (1981), as a person to provide corneas; that conditions precedent to removal of corn...
...An additional question of material fact is whether the medical examiner's office has a policy or practice of performing autopsies on all accident victims, specifically drowning *1198 and vehicle accident victims. In this connection, I note also section
872.01, Florida Statutes (1981), titled Dealing in dead bodies; section
872.04, Florida Statutes (1981), titled Autopsies; consent required, exception; and chapter 936, Florida Statutes (1981), titled Inquests of the Dead....
CopyPublished | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal
...1 The motion sought to place a hold on the
cremation of Ingwell’s father’s body and to compel an autopsy. We affirm
because the trial court correctly concluded that the decedent’s spouse
(Ingwell’s stepmother) has priority to make this decision under the
pertinent statute, and the spouse objected to an autopsy.
Section 872.04(2), Florida Statutes (2023), provides:
Unless otherwise authorized by statute, no autopsy shall be
performed without the written consent by the health care
surrogate, as provided in s....
...the person who
has assumed custody of the body for purposes of burial. When
two or more persons assume custody of the body for such
purposes, then the consent of any one of them shall be
sufficient to authorize the autopsy.
§ 872.04(2), Fla....
...BJ’s Wholesale Club, Inc.,
383 So. 3d 118, 124 (Fla. 4th DCA 2024)
(quoting Am. Home Assurance Co. v. Plaza Materials Corp.,
908 So. 2d 360,
366 (Fla. 2005)). The list is clearly prioritized as it concludes with who
may consent when “no such next of kin can be found.” §
872.04(2), Fla.
Stat. (2023).
Additionally, for purposes of section
872.04(2), we conclude that a
spouse, if one exists, would be the “nearest relative” of the decedent. The
term “nearest relative” is not defined by section
872.04....
...o on.
Relative, Black’s Law Dictionary (12th ed. 2024) (emphasis added).
This definition is persuasive and resolves any ambiguity because, in
these circumstances, the decedent’s wife is both the “spouse” and “nearest
relative” under section 872.04(2)’s plain language.
This reading is consistent with the hierarchy that the Legislature has
established for a “[l]egally authorized person” under Chapter 497, Florida
2
Statutes (2023), which regulates funeral and cremation services....
...pouse,
relative, or next of kin to dispose of a corpse, autopsies may be authorized
by public authorities for the protection of health or the discovery of
crime.”).
Because Ingwell fails to show any error in the trial court’s conclusion
that section 872.04(2) gives the spouse priority in this situation, we affirm.
Affirmed.
WARNER, CONNER and FORST, JJ., concur.
* * *
Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing....
CopyPublished | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal | 2014 Fla. App. LEXIS 15616, 2014 WL 5002115
...He believed that the consent form used by the Hospital was deficient because it did not
"spell out exactly what's going to take place after the autopsy, with various organs and
tissues." He conceded that the consent form in this case meets the requirement of
section 872.04, Florida Statutes (2004), which simply requires written consent and is the
only law applicable to private autopsies....
