§ 8.14. MEDICAL EXAMINER'S FEES FOR COPIES OF DOCUMENTS AND CERTAIN SERVICES.

(a) The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is hereby authorized to charge the following fees to any persons or government agencies, including departments or agencies of the City and County of San Francisco, that request or require such documents or services:

Proof of death letter	$7
Statement of non-contagion	7
Certified copy of Medical Examiner’s report	34
Disaster bag	49
Forensic autopsy by request	3,274
X-rays, per film	113
Copies of X-rays, per film	24
Re-cut microscopic slides, per slide	24
Storage of remains, per day	56
Removal of remains from place of death to OCME facility, Medical Examiner’s cases	461
Transport of remains from rest homes or other agencies, non-Medical Examiner’s cases	113
Cremation of remains by request	873
Certified forensic toxicology report	12
Certified supporting documentation for results of forensic toxicology report, per page	.90
Packaging and delivery of subpoenaed records to court	18
Specimen storage, per month	28
Expert testimony or consultation by OCME toxicologist (non-Ph.D.), per hour	282/hour**
Expert testimony or consultation by OCME toxicologist (Ph.D.), per hour	400**
Expert testimony or consultation by OCME forensic pathologist, per hour	584**
Expert testimony or consultation by OCME investigator, per hour	282**
Drug screening in blood or urine by ELISA (4 common drug categories)	400
Drug screening in blood or urine by ELISA (8 common drug categories)	600
Drug screening in blood or urine by ELISA (12 common drug categories)	800
Drug screening in blood or urine by GC/MS	1,200
Drug confirmation in urine, per drug	300
Drug confirmation and quantitation in blood, per drug	300
Drug screening in gastric contents or tissue by GC/MS	1,500
Drug confirmation in gastric contents or tissue, per drug	400
Date rape drug screening in urine	1,200
Date rape drug confirmation in urine, per drug	300
Drug screening and confirmation in hair, per hair specimen	4,000
Decedent’s property mailing fee	40
Histology service, including embedding, cutting, routine H & E staining and coverslipping, per 4 cassettes	120
Forensic alcohol analysis, per case	160
Drug screening and confirmation in nails, per nail specimen	1,143
Preparation of specimen for shipment or release	60

** Travel and accommodation charges will be the responsibility of the requesting party.

Except as otherwise provided by law, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is authorized to charge a fee on a time-and-materials basis to issue documents or perform services other than those specified above. The fee charged shall not exceed the actual cost that the OCME incurs in providing the document or service to the requesting party.

(b) All cases brought into the Medical Examiner’s Office facility shall be billed for transportation, personnel handling, and storage costs, except for the following categories of cases:

(1) Decedents under 14 years of age;

(2) Homicides;

(3) In custody or police-involved cases;

(4) Indigents (County disposition);

(5) Cases in which private charitable funds available to pay funeral costs would thereby be reduced so as to preclude payment;

(6) Cases specifically exempted by the Chief Medical Examiner or his or her designee.

(c) Beginning with fiscal year 2003-2004, fees set in this Section may be adjusted each year, without further action by the Board of Supervisors, to reflect changes in the relevant Consumer Price Index, as determined by the Controller.

No later than April 15th of each year, the Medical Examiner’s Office shall submit its current fee schedule to the Controller, who shall apply the price index adjustment to produce a new fee schedule for the following year. The adjusted rates shall become operative on July 1.

(d) All fees received for documents and services mentioned in this Section shall be deposited with the Treasurer and shall be used to defray the costs incurred by the Medical Examiner in issuing such documents or providing such services.

(Amended by Ord. 231-82, App. 5/13/82; Ord. 120-87, App. 4/17/87; Ord. 222-92, App. 7/14/92; Ord. 169-95, App. 5/26/95; Ord. 384-96, App. 10/16/96; Ord. 156-02, File No. 021080, App. 7/12/2002; Ord. 163-04, File No. 040750, App. 7/22/2004; Ord. 177-05, File No. 050984, App. 7/29/2005; Ord. 182-07, File No. 070808, App. 8/3/2007; Ord. 167-09, File No. 090721, App. 7/21/2009; Ord. ; File No. 130543, App. 8/2/2013, Eff. 9/1/2013; Ord. , File No. 161316, App. 2/24/2017, Eff. 3/26/2017)

SEC. 8.14-1. [REPEALED.]

(Added by Ord. 182-09, File No. 090837, 7/27/2009; repealed by Ord. , File No. 180132, App. 6/14/2018, Eff. 7/15/2018, Retro. 7/1/2018)