Are Autopsy Reports Public in North Dakota? (2026)

North Dakota autopsy reports are not open public records. The full autopsy report, toxicology results, and the examiner's working notes are confidential by statute. Only the one-page Report of Death, which states the cause and manner of death, becomes a public record eight days after it is finalized. Absent an active criminal investigation, close family and the personal representative may obtain the full report, and so may a handful of other requesters the statute names.

Are Autopsy Reports Public in North Dakota?

No. A North Dakota autopsy report is not a general public record. Under N.D. Cent. Code 23-01-05.5, the autopsy report and any related working papers and notes are confidential and may be released only as that statute allows.

There is one narrow exception. The Report of Death, which is the face page of the autopsy report identifying the decedent and stating the cause and manner of death, becomes a public record eight days after it is finalized. That single page is disclosable under North Dakota's open-records law, N.D. Cent. Code 44-04-18.

The full report, including toxicology and microscopic findings, stays restricted to the people the statute names. This is common in death-records law, where the detailed pathology file is treated as more sensitive than the basic cause-of-death summary.

Who Performs Autopsies in North Dakota?

North Dakota runs a county-based coroner system backed by a state office. Each county has a coroner, except in counties that have adopted a form of county managership. There the office of coroner is abolished: its functions pass to the county manager under a short form of county managership, and to the sheriff under a county manager form of government. The state's attorney performs the coroner's duties only if a conflict or inconsistency arises between the functions of the coroner and the sheriff (N.D. Cent. Code 11-09-27).

The autopsy itself is performed by the State Forensic Examiner or an authorized pathologist, not by the county coroner. The State Forensic Examiner must be a physician licensed in North Dakota who is board-certified or board-eligible in forensic pathology and in good standing; the office sits within North Dakota Health and Human Services (N.D. Cent. Code 23-01-05.4). The office operates out of Bismarck and provides consultation and autopsy services to county coroners.

When an Autopsy Is Performed

A coroner may order an autopsy whenever one is deemed necessary to determine the cause and manner of death. If the coroner declines, the sheriff or state's attorney may direct that one be done (N.D. Cent. Code 11-19.1-11).

Autopsies are most common in deaths that are sudden, violent, suspicious, or unexplained. Reportable circumstances include obvious or suspected homicidal, suicidal, or accidental injury; firearm injury; severe unexplained injury; drowning; poisoning or illegal drug use; and any other suspicious factor (N.D. Cent. Code 11-19.1-01(5)). Suspected sudden infant death syndrome cases generally require an autopsy unless all parties agree otherwise. The state bears the cost of an autopsy performed by the State Forensic Examiner or the examiner's designee. Otherwise the county is responsible for the autopsy, the transport of the body, and the investigation (N.D. Cent. Code 11-19.1-18).

Who Can Request a North Dakota Autopsy Report?

The full autopsy report is released only to a limited group, and the family route carries a condition. Under N.D. Cent. Code 23-01-05.5(6), if there is no active criminal investigation, the State Forensic Examiner must release a copy of the autopsy report on request to the decedent's:

• Personal representative (the executor or administrator of the estate)
• Spouse, on proof of the relationship
• Child eighteen years of age or older, on proof of the relationship
• Parent, on proof of the relationship

That same subsection reaches beyond the family. Still subject to the no-active-investigation condition, it also compels release to a physician or hospital that treated the decedent immediately before death; an insurance company that can show the decedent's life was covered by one of its policies; the Food and Drug Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and any other federal or state agency with authority to obtain an autopsy report to investigate a death from that type of injury or illness; a professional or research organization working from a de-identified copy; and the maternal mortality review committee.

A separate list in subsection 5 covers the autopsy report and the working papers. It runs to county coroners with jurisdiction over the death, prosecutors and criminal justice agencies, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation when the decedent was an inmate, and disclosure under a court order. Workforce Safety and Insurance and similar workers' compensation programs, the child fatality review panel, and the suicide fatality review commission are on that list as well, but only when no criminal investigation is open.

For homicide cases, the State Forensic Examiner's office states that the report is released only with written approval from the District Attorney handling the matter. The general public cannot obtain the full file; the public-facing document is the Report of Death once it has been finalized for eight days.

When someone requests the Report of Death, the State Forensic Examiner must make a good-faith effort to notify the decedent's next of kin first. That notification, or the attempt, has to happen before any public disclosure.

How to Get an Autopsy or Toxicology Report in North Dakota

Send a written request to the State Forensic Examiner's office. Your request should include the decedent's full name, date of birth, date of death, your name and relationship to the decedent, and your mailing address.

Office: North Dakota State Forensic Examiner, 2637 East Main Avenue, Bismarck, ND 58501. Phone 701-328-6138; email NDMEOffice@nd.gov.

Fee: There is no charge for a report in a non-homicide case. Homicide-case reports require written District Attorney approval before release.

Processing time: It varies. The office notes that each autopsy and its report turnaround is different, and that testing requirements, case complexity, and ongoing investigations can cause delays.

Pending-Investigation Hold

If a death is part of an active criminal investigation, the family and other private requesters in subsection 6 have no statutory right to the report until that investigation ends. Toxicology alone can add weeks, so reports in complex or contested cases routinely take several months. If the file is tied to a homicide, expect the release to run through the prosecutor rather than the examiner's office directly.

Autopsy Report vs Death Certificate in North Dakota

These are two different records produced by two different processes. The death certificate is the legal vital record filed with North Dakota Vital Records. It lists the cause-of-death line but not the underlying pathology, and it is the document you use to settle estates, claim insurance, and close accounts.

The autopsy report is the forensic pathologist's detailed findings, including toxicology, microscopic exams, and the manner-of-death determination. It is far more detailed than the certificate and, unlike the certificate, it is confidential except for the Report of Death face page.

For the certificate itself, see our guide to North Dakota death records. For all states, start at the hub on death records by state.

Disclaimer: This page is general information, not legal advice. Statutes, fees, and office procedures change. Confirm current requirements directly with the North Dakota State Forensic Examiner or the county coroner before relying on anything here.

Sources

This page draws on the North Dakota State Forensic Examiner, the North Dakota Century Code, and the CDC's coroner/medical-examiner law summary, all official sources.