NAME Referral Criteria
Definition
The National Association of Medical Examiners consensus criteria for deaths that should receive medico-legal investigation. Categories include sudden unexpected death in apparently healthy individuals, violent deaths, drug and alcohol overdose, deaths in custody, and child deaths below a defined age threshold.
- Source
- National Association of Medical Examiners
- Purpose
- Consensus criteria for deaths requiring medico-legal investigation
- Example categories
- Sudden unexpected death, violent death, overdose, custody death
- Includes
- Child deaths below a defined age threshold
Common questions
How do these criteria interact with a jurisdiction's actual legal reporting requirements?+
NAME's referral criteria are a professional consensus recommendation for what should trigger medico-legal investigation, while the legally binding trigger in any given jurisdiction is set by that jurisdiction's own statute defining a medical examiner's or coroner's reportable death; NAME's list often informs but does not replace local law.
Why include a specific age threshold for child deaths in the criteria?+
Sudden deaths in young children carry a disproportionate risk of undetected abuse, neglect, or unrecognized natural disease compared to expected deaths in older adults, so the criteria flag deaths below a defined age for mandatory investigation regardless of how routine the circumstances first appear.
Does meeting a referral criterion guarantee a full autopsy will be performed?+
Meeting a referral criterion means the death should come to the medical examiner's attention for evaluation, but the examiner still decides case by case whether a full autopsy, external exam only, or another level of investigation is warranted based on the specific circumstances.
Related terms
- BNSS § 194
- Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 (replacing CrPC § 174). Requires a police inquest for deaths that are sudden,...
- Coroners and Justice Act 2009 (CJA 2009)
- The primary UK statute governing HM Coroner's jurisdiction in England and Wales. Section 1(2) triggers a duty to investigate when the coroner...
- CPP Articles 74-75 (France)
- Articles 74 and 74-1 of the French Code de procédure pénale governing the procureur de la République's investigative authority over deaths in...
- INTERPOL DVI Protocol
- The INTERPOL Disaster Victim Identification protocol (last revised 2022), which defines standardised Post-Mortem (PM) data-collection forms and the matching process between PM...
- Medical Examiner (US)
- A physician (typically a board-certified forensic pathologist) appointed by government authority to investigate deaths within their jurisdiction. Distinguished from the elected Coroner...