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Medicolegal Death Investigation
Papua New Guinea
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Death Registration
Declaration and Notification
Informants
Who is designated as the primary informant for unnatural or suspicious deaths?
Specified officer of the medical legal system
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
To ensure that unnatural and suspicious deaths are registered, legislation should clearly specify who is responsible for reporting the death to the registrar. The primary informant for an unnatural or suspicious death should be an officer of the mediolegal system, regardless of whether the death occurred with or without medical supervision.
Such officers may include: coroners, medical examiners, police or other medicolegal officers. Responsibility should not be placed on the family, as that may result in the death not being declared to the registrar.
In any case where a dead body is found or a case of sudden death or death attended with suspicious or unusual circumstances occurs, any person who knows or becomes aware of the death or the finding of the body must immediately give notice to the nearest coroner or commissioned officer of the Police Force, who must transmit the information to the coroner. The coroner must inform the Registrar-General of the death as soon as practicable after receiving such information, whether or not an inquest is held.
Death Registration
Procedure and Certificates
Evidence
What evidence or documents are required for on-time death registration?
Medical Certificate of Cause of Death
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
Registrars should require proof as to the veracity of the information to be registered. Proof or evidence required for registration must be sufficiently stringent to provide assurance of the accuracy of the information without being so burdensome as to discourage or prevent registration. Documentary evidence is always preferred. Ideally all deaths will have an accurate, detailed medical certificate of cause of death (MCCD). However, in many contexts this will not be possilbe. Lack of MCCD should not prevent death registration; evidence of fact of death should be sufficient to register death. Evidence of fact of death could be a notification of death or other similar document, Witness Statement or other similar evidence.
In terms of Section 58 of the Civil and Identity Registration Act, where a death occurred in a health facility or where the remains were brought to a health facility, the head of the health facility must provide a medical certificate of cause of death (MCCD) to the Registrar-General. Alternatively, if the deceased was attended to by a medical attendant within three months prior to death, the medical attendant must provide an MCCD to the Registrar-General. Where a death is referred to the coroner for investigation, the coroner must provide the MCCD to the Registrar-General. Anyone required to provide an MCCD to the Registrar-General must do so within 21 days from the date of the death or the discovery of the dead body, or within 21 days of the completion of the coroner’s inquiry, as the case may be. If none of these circumstances apply, the Registrar-General must register the death without an MCCD or follow any directions in the Regulations (not yet issued as of January 2026) regarding determination of cause of death. The absence of cause of death does not prevent registration of death.
In terms of Section 59 of the Act, the Registrar-General must record the cause of death in the Register on receipt of an MCCD; if the cause of death is not determined, the Registrar-General must record that fact in the Register as part of the information about the death.
Death Registration
Medicolegal Death Investigations
Medicolegal Death Investigations Authority
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. The types of cases that must be report to the MLDI system are usually contained in a code of criminal procedure, rather than in the civil registration law .
A coroner has jurisdiction to inquire into the death of a person who was killed, drowned, died a sudden death of unknown cause, or died under suspicious or unusual circumstances; where there is no medical certificate of the cause of death from a medical practitioner; where the deceased was not attended by a medical practitioner within three months before death; deaths under anesthetic in the course of a medical, surgical, dental or similar operation; deaths directly attributable to an accident that occurred within a year and a day of the date of the accident; deaths in custody; or deaths where the Principal Legal Adviser advises that investigation of a death is warranted.
Any person who is aware of the finding of a body or a death in suspicious or unusual circumstances must immediately give notice to the nearest coroner, directly or via a commissioned officer of the Police Force. Failure to give notice is punishable by a fine of up to K20 (equivalent to approximately USD $5).
What type of medicolegal death investigation (MLDI) system does the country have?
Coroner System
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
MLDI systems can be categorized into four types: law enforcement-led systems, coroner systems, medical examiner systems, and coroner/medical examiner hybrid systems. There is no best practice. All four types of systems are capable of providing quality information to the 5 MDLI questions: 1) Who died (i.e., what was the person’s name, if known)? 2) When did the death occur? 3) Where did the death occur? 4) What was the cause of death? and 5) What was the manner of death (e.g., natural, accident, suicide, homicide, or undetermined)?
The medicolegal death investigation authority is the coroner. Papua New Guinea’s Judicial and Legal Services Commission appoints a coroner and specifies the province or provinces within which the coroner has jurisdiction.
Death Registration
Medicolegal Death Investigations
Death in custody
Does the law mandate that law enforcement and/or heads of custodial institutions report all deaths in custody to the medicolegal death investigation authority?
No
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
All deaths in custody should be viewed as potentially unlawful or suspicious deaths and
should therefore be referred to the medical-legal authorities. “Deaths in custody” refers to those deaths in which the circumstances of the death place the decedent in either direct or indirect contact with law enforcement in such settings as incarceration, apprehension and pursuit. For deaths that occur in a detention facility, the head of the detention facility or the head of health services within the detention facility should initiate the process of notifying the medical-legal authorities. For deaths that occur during pursuit or apprehension, the police chief should refer the death to the medical-legal authorities.
A coroner must inquire into cases where a person dies in a corrective institution, rural lock-up or police lock-up, or while a prisoner or in custody, or in a mental hospital or other institution “under such circumstances as to require an inquest”. There is no specific provision on notices of deaths in custody. Any person who is aware of the finding of a body or a death in suspicious or unusual circumstances must immediately give notice to the nearest coroner, directly or via a commissioned officer of the Police Force.
The law is silent on deaths that occur during pursuit or other forms of direct or indirect contact with law enforcement.
Does the law clearly state who is responsible for medically certifying cause of death when deaths are unnatural or suspicious, or otherwise referred to the MLDI authority?
Yes
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
Deaths due to unnatural causes (such as accident, self-harm or violence); man-made or natural disasters; suspicious causes, or where CoD cannot be determined by the attending physician should be referred to the Medicolegal Death Investigation (MLDI) authority for medical certification of cause of death. The certifier of cause of death should be the forensic physician working with the MLDI authority who conducted the post-mortem examination on the deceased.
Where a death is referred to the coroner for investigation, Section 58(3)-(4) of the Civil and Identity Registration Act requires the coroner to provide the MCCD to the Registrar-General.
Under Section 14 of the Coroners Act, the coroner may direct a medical practitioner to make a post-mortem examination of the body of the deceased person to determine the cause of death. In terms of section 8(2) of the Coroners Act, when a coroner is satisfied that a medical practitioner knows the immediate cause of death, whether as the result of a post-mortem examination or otherwise, he may consent to that medical practitioner forwarding a medical certificate or post-mortem certificate of the cause of death to the Registrar-General.
Cause of Death
Medical Certification
Medical Certificate of Cause of Death Form
Is the same form used for all types of deaths, including natural deaths and deaths referred to MLDI?
Yes
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
It is recommended practice to use the same MCCD form which should be WHO MCCD compliant) for all types of deaths, including natural and unnatural deaths (and fetal deaths).
The regulations and forms in force as of January 2026 are contained in the Civil Registration Regulation 1967 issued under the Civil Registration Act 1963, which has been repealed by the Civil and Identity Registration Act 2024. These regulations remain in force insofar as they are consistent with the new legislation until new regulations are enacted. They contain a single form for medical certification of cause of death (Form 16 – “Medical Certificate of Death”).
Cause of Death
Transmission of Cause of Death Data
Transmission of Cause of Death Data
For a death referred to the MLDI system, does the law specify how cause of death information is transmitted to the civil registrar and/or statistics agency?
Yes for transmission of information to civil registrar
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
The law should designate who is responsible for submitting the MCCD or cause of death data to the civil registration authority and/or the national statistics agency in cases of deaths investigated by the MLDI system. Responsibility may be place on the forensic physician that certified the cause of death or an official within the MLDI system, such as the coroner, medical examiner, or police officer. In some countries, this person will submit the MCCD or cause of death information to the civil registration agency, which in turn will submit COD data to the national statistics agency. In other countries, this person will submit the MCCD or cause of death data directly to the national statistics agency. The MCCD should not be given to the family as a means of transmission.
In terms of the Civil and Identity Registration Act, where a death is referred to the coroner for investigation, the coroner must provide the MCCD to the Registrar-General.
In terms of the Coroners Act, a coroner who is satisfied that a medical practitioner knows the immediate cause of death, whether as the result of a post-mortem examination or otherwise, may consent to that medical practitioner forwarding a medical certificate or post-mortem certificate of the cause of death to the Registrar-General.
