Religious beliefs and autopsies.

• Author: Toth, Zita
• Position: Trends

Religious customs and intrusive postmortem procedures collided in the separate deaths of two American Indians in northeastern Minnesota car crashes in February. Their families are members of Ojibwe and Chippewa bands that perform ceremonies soon after death and forbid the desecration of a body.

The St. Louis County Medical Examiner ordered autopsies in both cases, based on the office's established practice of doing the procedure in all homicides, fatal car accidents, workplace accidents and most child deaths. The families got court orders in both cases to release the bodies without autopsies on religious grounds. The coroner complied, but the families argued they were denied their right to mourn in traditional ways. (The coroner, whose contract talks broke down after his handling of the cases came under fire, no longer works for the county.)

In response, Minnesota Senator Tony Lourey (D) introduced a bill to allow families to object to autopsies on religious grounds, but let judges order them to be performed in a minimally intrusive manner when there was "compelling state interest."

"There really was a disconnect between our statute and a constitutional right," Lourey says. "It's a very emotional conversation." When Lourey's bill went into effect July 1, the state joined several...