Code Section

27491.25.  

(a) The coroner or medical examiner, or their appointed deputy, on being notified of a death occurring while the deceased was driving or riding in a motor vehicle, or as a result of the deceased being struck by a motor vehicle, shall take blood and other biological samples, when appropriate, from the body of the deceased before it has been prepared for burial and make appropriate related chemical tests to determine the alcoholic contents, if any, of the body. The coroner or medical examiner, or their appointed deputy, on being notified of a death occurring while the deceased was driving a motor vehicle, shall perform drug screening and confirmatory tests for drugs, as referenced in Section 312 of the Vehicle Code, on the driver.

(b) The detailed medical findings, resulting from those examinations that are conducted, shall either be reduced to writing or permanently preserved on recording discs or other similar recording media and shall include all positive and negative findings pertinent to the presence or absence of any alcoholic or other substance content. Blood alcohol content and blood drug concentrations shall be provided when available.

(c) This section does not apply to the testing of a deceased person under 15 years of age unless the surrounding circumstances indicate the possibility of alcohol or drug consumption, nor shall it apply when the death has occurred more than 48 hours after the accident.

(d) For purposes of this section, hospital antemortem samples, if available, shall be used in place of postmortem samples if the decedent was hospitalized prior to death.