(1) The district medical examiner shall appoint, subject to the approval of the district attorney and applicable civil service regulations, qualified medical-legal death investigators, including the sheriff or a deputy sheriff and a member of the Oregon State Police for each county. Other peace officers may also be appointed as medical-legal death investigators.
(2) The district medical examiner and the district attorney shall establish qualifications for medical-legal death investigators.
(3) Each medical-legal death investigator shall be individually appointed and the name of the medical-legal death investigator shall be on file in the office of the district medical examiner.
(4) A medical-legal death investigator shall investigate deaths subject to the control and direction of the district medical examiner or the district attorney.
(5) A medical-legal death investigator may authorize the removal of the body of a deceased person from the apparent place of death.
(6) The medical-legal death investigator may not authorize embalming, order a post-mortem examination or autopsy, or certify the cause and manner of death.