Have any states recently changed laws to restrict or expand access to autopsy reports (2023-2025)?
Executive summary
Several states have moved to restrict access to autopsy records between 2023 and 2025, most notably Colorado’s new law excluding most minor autopsy reports from public records and North Carolina’s statute limiting disclosure in criminal investigations; simultaneously some jurisdictions have clarified or preserved routes for public access, leaving a patchwork of rules across the country [1] [2] [3] [4]. A 50‑state legal landscape review and federal compilations show longstanding variation in who may see autopsy reports and ongoing statutory adjustments at the state level [5] [6].
1. Colorado: a clear restriction for minors’ autopsy reports
Colorado’s HB 24‑1244, signed into law in 2024 and effective Jan. 1, 2025, declares autopsy reports prepared in connection with the death of a minor “is not a public record” under the Colorado Open Records Act, meaning journalists and the public no longer have routine access to most autopsy reports for children although limited information will remain available [1]. Supporters framed the change as protecting grieving families’ privacy, while critics warned it reduces transparency in suspicious or high‑profile child deaths [1].
2. North Carolina: limiting access in criminal investigations, and a legislative arc
North Carolina lawmakers debated a bill in 2024 that would add written autopsy reports from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to categories exempt from public records when part of prosecutorial investigative files, and that effort culminated in a broader crime bill signed by Gov. Josh Stein that narrows public access to certain autopsy records and makes release contingent on investigative status, judicial petition, or other specified conditions such as introduced evidence or parental consent for child autopsies [3] [2]. The final 2025 language treats these records as criminal investigative material mostly unreleasable until investigations conclude, while preserving a judge’s ability to release records when public interest and other conditions are met [2].
3. Washington and statutory amendments that codify confidentiality and family access
Washington state law explicitly declares autopsy and postmortem reports confidential while enumerating who may obtain them — including personal representatives, family members, certain officials — and includes statutory language updated in 2023 and again in 2025 that emphasizes confidentiality but requires examiners to meet with families to discuss findings, reflecting a statutory balance of family privacy and disclosure to specified officials [7]. Those session laws (noted as 2023 c 44 s 4 and 2025 c 58 s 5121) illustrate how states are fine‑tuning who gets access and under what procedural safeguards [7].
4. Where access has been preserved or clarified — examples and federal compilations
Not every change has been toward secrecy; some states’ codes continue to require or permit release of autopsy findings to the public on request or to specified actors, and statutes like Oklahoma’s reaffirm that a signed, written records request can produce a full autopsy report for the public subject to enumerated conditions and recipients such as district attorneys and investigators, reflecting statutory frameworks that provide for controlled public disclosure [4]. Federal and federal‑agency compilations and surveys — including a 50‑state review and the Office of Justice Programs’ collection of medicolegal autopsy laws — document the longstanding heterogeneity of rules and the scope for states to both restrict and liberalize access [5] [6].
5. The broader pattern: privacy, public interest, and uneven reforms
Legal and ethical literature shows an international trend toward giving families greater control over autopsy scope and report dissemination, and U.S. states are moving in different directions driven by privacy concerns, public‑health interests, prosecutorial needs, and media freedom arguments; about half the states have explicit statutes addressing disclosure, and many of the recent changes from 2023–2025 have tightened access in specific contexts such as child deaths or active criminal investigations while leaving other disclosure pathways intact [5] [8] [9]. Advocacy groups, courts and legislators continue to clash over where the balance should fall, and national compilations make clear that these are state decisions rather than federal uniformity [6] [5].
Conclusion
Between 2023 and 2025 several states enacted or amended laws that effectively restrict public access to some autopsy records — Colorado’s 2025 restriction on minor autopsy reports and North Carolina’s criminal‑investigation confidentiality measures are prominent examples — while other states have clarified or preserved mechanisms for public release, resulting in a fragmented patchwork of access rules that varies by jurisdiction, victim age, and investigative status [1] [2] [4] [5]. Source documents reviewed include state statutes and legislative summaries, AP reporting on North Carolina’s bill, nonprofit and academic compilations of autopsy law, and state code sections cited above [2] [3] [1] [6] [7] [5] [4].