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Disclaimer / Limitations
This country’s legal measures were reviewed by our legal staff in consultation with in-country lawyers and/or CRVS legal experts. All efforts were made to ensure the accuracy of the legal analysis, however, if you consider there to be any discrepancies or if there have been changes in the law of the country since our staff last updated the legal analysis, we welcome any additional information or insights. Please contact us via this form.
Death Registration
Bolivia
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Bolivia
Death Registration
Medicolegal Death Investigations
Medicolegal Death Investigations
Medicolegal Death Investigations Authority
Who is the medicolegal death investigation (MLDI) authority in the jurisdiction?
Hybrid Coroner/Medical Examiner System
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
Alex, I will come back to answering this column at a later time.
Does the law clearly state what types of cases must be referred to the MLDI authority and is this in accordance with international guidance?
Yes
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
Deaths due to known or suspected unnatural or external causes should be referred to the Medicolegal Death Investigation (MLDI) authority. This includes deaths due to violence, injury, self-harm, suspicious causes, and sudden, unexplained or unexpected deaths.
In cases where the attending physician has well-founded doubts about the cause of a person’s death, the physician is required to notify the competent authority rather than issue a medical death certificate. Additionally, when there is suspicion that the death may have resulted from an accident, homicide, suicide, or any other unnatural circumstance, the law mandates that the case be referred to the Medicolegal Death Investigation authority (Instituto de Investigaciones Forenses – IDIF) for examination and certification. This ensures that all deaths with potential legal implications are subject to forensic investigation before registration.
Does the law mandate that deaths in custody be referred to the medicolegal death investigation authority and specify who is responsible for notifying the authority?
No
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
All deaths in custody should be viewed as potentially unlawful or suspicious deaths and referred to the medical-legal authorities for investigation, as required by the Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death. Death in custody includes detention facilities, pursuit or apprehension by police. The law should clearly state who is responsible for notifying the medical-legal authorities, when a death in custory occurs. For deaths that occur in detention facilites the head of facility should initiate the process. For deaths occuring during pursuit or apprehension by law enforcement, police chief should initiate the process.
