State lawmakers made significant adjustments to a bill that closes autopsy reports on minors, adding a deceased child’s name to the summary of information that must be released to the public following a death.
County coroners could publicly release an autopsy report concerning a minor’s death while in the care or custody of a government agency under a revised bill passed by the Colorado House.
State lawmakers moved to make autopsy reports on minors confidential in Colorado despite extensive testimony from journalists and a child-protection advocate who explained the public-interest benefits of keeping those records open.
Nearly six years after then-Gov. John Hickenlooper vetoed a bill to seal autopsy reports on minors, Colorado’s county coroners are again trying to restrict public access to those records.
