CHEYENNE - When her father-in-law died in Fremont County in February at home under hospice care, Rep. Ann Robinson, D-Casper, said she had no reason to think anyone would consider the death suspicious.

He was 82 years old, was diagnosed with a terminal condition, had been treated at a hospital emergency room shortly before his death, and had been sent home to die according to his wishes, Robinson said.

Six months later, Robinson learned that after her father-in-law's death, the county coroner had arranged for samples of his bodily fluids to be taken. The reason? To determine if the death was an assisted suicide, she said.

"Since my husband's stepmother and I were the only ones with him when he died, I suppose I was a suspect," Robinson said. "…He was tested for every drug imaginable - from marijuana to amphetamines to alcohol."

Robinson this week plans to present draft legislation to a legislative committee to determine when a death is a coroner's case. Several county coroners from around the state will also appear before the Joint Interim Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee at 1 p.m. Thursday at the University of Wyoming Outreach Building in Casper.

Robinson said Tuesday that results of a survey she conducted of all 23 county coroners demonstrate they do not agree on the definition of an "unattended death."

"They're all handling it differently. I think clarifying the statutes will help," Robinson said in a telephone interview.

Robinson said several hospice representatives and family members of deceased patients who had body fluids withdrawn by a coroner's office for drug testing will attend the meeting.

Natrona County Coroner Dr. James Thorpen said he and several other coroners will attend the meeting to discuss Robinson's bill, which, he said, "leaves a lot to be desired."

"I hope we can clear the air and try to guide the Legislature in the right direction," Thorpen said Tuesday.

Robinson said her work on the bill became personal when she found out about what had been done to her father-in-law's body without the family's knowledge. Fremont County Coroner Ed McAuslan could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Thorpen is chairman of the State Board of Coroner Standards, which is upgrading its procedural manual to include minimum standards for the investigation of coroners' cases.

The board is waiting to post the standards on the attorney general's Web site and then will have a public comment period.

Laramie County Coroner Bill Ryan, a board member, said the standards will allow investigation of hospice deaths as coroners' cases and include a definition of unattended death.

"Basically our job is to be advocates for the deceased," Ryan said. "And we're doing it - not to be bad guys, to say hospice is not doing their job. We're doing it for their protection and the family's protection, too."

Ryan said he doesn't draw samples from hospice patients in Laramie County because the program is well controlled by United Medical Center and physicians.

Thorpen, meanwhile, has been involved in a series of legal battles this year, first with Central Wyoming Hospice over whether he could take blood samples from patients who die under hospice care.

The coroner and his deputies are defendants in a federal lawsuit filed by Patricia Grace of Casper, who claims the office improperly entered her house after the death of her husband, Charles Grace, and seized the body, medications and other items without a warrant.

Thorpen, in his response, said he and his deputies have the legal authority to investigate the possibility of elder abuse and homicide.

Attorney General Pat Crank issued an opinion saying it was beyond a coroner's authority to take samples from patients who die in the hospice setting.

The postmortem tests are valuable as a defense in cases, for example, when one family member accuses another of causing the death of a parent through a drug overdose, Thorpen said Tuesday.

If the patient's body is cremated with no testing, there is no way to prove or disprove the allegation, he said.

Capital bureau reporter Joan Barron can be reached at (307) 632-1244 or joan.barron@casperstartribune.net.