Are Autopsy Reports Public in District of Columbia? (2026)

District of Columbia autopsy reports are not open public records. The DC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) releases the full autopsy and toxicology report only to the person with the right to control disposition of the decedent's remains, that person's written or notarized designee, a healthcare provider or medical peer review committee reviewing the decedent's care, or a party holding a qualifying subpoena or court order. Under DC Code 5-1412(c-1)(1), ten specific fields from every report are still a public record.

Are Autopsy Reports Public in District of Columbia?

No. A full District of Columbia autopsy report is not a record that any member of the public can simply order. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) treats the complete autopsy and toxicology report as a restricted record released to specific authorized parties.

Part of every report is public, though, and it is more than the single cause-and-manner sentence people often expect. DC Code 5-1412(c-1)(1) makes ten fields a public record: the decedent's name, race, sex, and age, the cause of death, the manner of death, the place of death, the case identification number, the date of examination, and the name of the examiner who performed the external examination or autopsy. The OCME lists those same ten items as the information it will provide in response to a general inquiry.

What stays restricted is the rest of the file: the narrative examination findings, internal observations, toxicology data, and any photographs or images of the decedent, which DC Code 5-1412(c-2) walls off separately.

The District of Columbia Freedom of Information Act (DC Official Code 2-531 et seq.) gives the public a general right to government records, but DC Code 5-1412(c-1)(1) is the provision that decides how far FOIA reaches into an autopsy report, limiting it to those ten fields. DC Code 5-1412(c-1)(2) then runs the other way: it lets certain requesters obtain the full report directly from the CME without making a request under 2-532(a) at all. If you fall in that group, filing a FOIA request is the slower route.

Who Performs Autopsies in District of Columbia? (Medical Examiner vs Coroner)

The District of Columbia uses a centralized medical examiner system. The Chief Medical Examiner, a licensed physician, heads the OCME under DC Code 5-1402. There is no elected coroner and no county-by-county patchwork, since the District is a single jurisdiction.

The Chief Medical Examiner must investigate a defined set of deaths under DC Code 5-1405(b), which enumerates thirteen categories. They include violent deaths (homicidal, suicidal, or accidental), sudden or unexpected deaths not caused by a readily recognizable disease, deaths under suspicious circumstances, and deaths related to employment or to a medical or surgical intervention.

The list also covers deaths of people who were wards of the District or in its legal custody, deaths from a disease that might threaten public health, bodies to be cremated or otherwise made unavailable for later examination, bodies brought into the District without proper medical certification, certain fetal deaths related to maternal trauma, all maternal mortalities, and any death that police, another law enforcement agency, or the US Attorney's Office asks be investigated or that a court orders investigated.

An autopsy is not performed on every reported death. Under DC Code 5-1409, the Chief Medical Examiner orders an autopsy when, in the opinion of the CME or the United States Attorney, further investigation into the cause or manner of death is required or the public interest demands it.

Who Can Request a District of Columbia Autopsy Report?

DC Code 5-1412(c-1)(2)(A) does not use the phrase next of kin. It gives the full report to the person with the right to control the disposition of the decedent's remains under DC Code 3-413. That is normally a surviving spouse or domestic partner, then adult children, then parents, then the next degree of kindred. DC Code 3-413 also lets any competent adult name a designated representative in a signed written document, and that person then holds the right, so the requester with standing is not always a blood relative.

Someone without that right can still obtain the report two ways under DC Code 5-1412(c-1)(2)(B): with the written consent of the person who does hold it, or under a subpoena issued in a matter pending before a court with personal jurisdiction over the CME, where a copy of the subpoena has been properly served on the person holding the disposition right. In practice the OCME requires next-of-kin requests to be made in person or by notarized written request, and requires a notarized authorization when someone else requests on their behalf.

A third group is easy to miss. Under DC Code 5-1412(c-1)(2)(C), a healthcare provider, healthcare facility, or medical peer review committee may obtain the report in furtherance of a review of the decedent's care, and that route does not depend on family permission.

Separately, DC Code 5-1412(b) opens the OCME's records to inspection by any person designated by the Mayor, the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, the Metropolitan Police Department or another law enforcement agency, a government health or safety organization, and fatality review committees and boards of the District government. That access applies only when the inspection is necessary for the discharge of the requester's official duties. Subsection (e) defines a government health or safety organization to include the CDC, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the FAA, the National Transportation Safety Board, and OSHA.

Anyone outside these categories, including the general public, journalists, and researchers, cannot get the complete report. What they can obtain is the set of ten fields that DC Code 5-1412(c-1)(1) makes a public record.

How to Get an Autopsy or Toxicology Report in District of Columbia

Send a written request to the OCME Custodian of Records. The request must include the decedent's full name and date of death, and the OCME case number if you have it. Next-of-kin requests must be made in person or by notarized written request.

Mail requests to: DC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, 401 E Street, SW, 6th Floor, Washington, DC 20024, Attn: Custodian of Records.

The fee is $15.00 for family requests and $75.00 for private organizations, paid by check or money order to the DC Treasurer. Processing time varies case by case, and the OCME will try to estimate a completion time.

If the death is still under an open or pending investigation, the OCME can hold the report until the case is closed. Cases involving homicide, an ongoing law enforcement investigation, or pending toxicology results often take longer to release.

Autopsy Report vs Death Certificate in District of Columbia

These are two different documents from two different agencies. The death certificate is a vital record issued by the DC Department of Health Vital Records Division, and it lists only a short cause-of-death line.

The autopsy report is the OCME's detailed forensic document. It explains the examination findings, internal observations, toxicology results, and the reasoning behind the cause and manner of death.

For full death certificate ordering rules, see the District of Columbia Death Records overview. For the national picture on access, read Are Autopsies Public Records?.

Disclaimer: This page is general information, not legal advice. Records rules, fees, and processing times change. Confirm current requirements directly with the DC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner before you rely on them.

Sources

This page draws on the DC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner records pages, the DC Code medical examiner statutes in Title 5, Chapter 14 (including 5-1405, 5-1409, and 5-1412), DC Code 3-413 on the right to control disposition of remains, the DC FOIA, and CDC public health law summaries.