You must notify the Justice of the Peace (JP) if any of the following apply. This applies to all deaths including those of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) and all other incarcerated individuals. These are criteria under which the Justice of the Peace must be notified:

• A patient dies within 24 hours of hospitalization;
• A patient younger than 6 years of age dies (excluding stillborn);
• You are uncertain of the circumstances of the death;
• You suspect the death was by unlawful means;
• Circumstances lead you to suspect the death by suicide;
• Someone dies from unnatural causes, no matter how remote in time (verify from prior hospitalizations whether death resulted from an earlier trauma, accident, attempted suicide, near-drowning, poisoning, or burns); or
• Dies during a medical procedure

Physicians may not certify any death that is not a natural (i.e. homicide, suicide, accident or undetermined). Contact the Justice of the Peace for guidance if you are unsure as to the manner of death.

If the case is accepted by the Justice of the Peace and an autopsy is ordered, do the following:

• Inform the next-of-kin of that the Justice of the Peace has taken jurisdiction;
• The Justice of the Peace along with the Galveston County Medical Examiner will make the decision where the autopsy will be performed;
• If the autopsy will be performed at the GCMEO or UTMB Hospital Galveston, arrangement will be made with the contract transportation service.

If the Justice of the Peace waives jurisdiction of the death (greensheet), the authorizing next-of-kin can make a decision to have an autopsy performed; therefore, all sections of the Decedent Affairs Paperwork must be completed.