The Role of Coroners in Involuntary Commitments in Louisiana

The Louisiana Advisory Committee (Committee) to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (Commission) has released a report on the role of coroners in involuntary commitments in Louisiana. Louisiana is currently the only state in the country that allows a medical examiner or coroner to issue an emergency certificate to involuntarily commit a person alleged to be suffering from mental illness.

The Committee received testimony that a majority of Louisiana’s parishes have coroners with qualified medical professional backgrounds, but there are instances where there is no qualified medical professional in the role of coroner, potentially leading to inappropriate medical determinations in the coroner’s emergency certificate process.