Medical Examiner Division

How do I request medical examiner reports? What do I need to include in my request?

• All report requests must include our records request form found here: Medical Examiners Records Request Form
  Additional requirements detailed below.
• Family members: A copy of your state issued ID.
• Insurance Companies:  An authorization to release information signed by the next of kin. Payment made out to the State Medical Examiner’s Office.
• Attorneys:  A letter stating who you are representing and why you are requesting records. Payment made out to the State Medical Examiner’s Office.
• (For Multnomah County and Clackamas County deaths, please contact those agencies directly for report requests.)

• Once all the reports are finalized, we generally fulfill requests within one week.

• Death certificates can be obtained from Oregon Vital Stats

• The State Medical Examiner’s Office maintains records for 25 years after the date of death.

• Under ORS 146.045 (5)Notwithstanding ORS 192.345 (Public records conditionally exempt from disclosure)(36):
  (a)Any parent, spouse, sibling, child or personal representative of the deceased, or any person who may be criminally or civilly liable for the death, or their authorized representatives respectively, may examine and obtain copies of any medical examiner’s report, autopsy report or laboratory test report ordered by a medical examiner under ORS 146.117 (Autopsies).