system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why are celebrity autopsy records often made public? Don't HIPAA laws protect their medical records?

I'm just wondering why you can often find coroner's reports and autopsies giving every last detail of a dead person's body. Aren't medical records supposed to be private?
gpt
HIPAA protection does generally apply after death, but an autopsy is not heathcare. The rules governing release of autopsy reports is different in every state; some make it a public record, and others do not.

Trials are also public, and if the death becomes part of a court case the autopsy report may be entered into evidence, and thus the public record.